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Sony's PSP Handheld Storage Media Pictured

Posted by simoniker on from the tiny-wee-discy dept.

Thanks to Evil Avatar for pointing to an article on the new PSP Insider website that has the first pictures of the UMD disc format. The Universal Media Disc, or UMD for short, is the game storage medium that Sony's handheld, the PSP will use when it launches in late 2004, and is a 2.4 inch disc that can store up to 1.8gb of data.

4 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Dataplay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It looks like a revamped DataPlay disc, only higher density and double sided. And unless Sony made some huge advancements, the PSP is probably going to suck a ton of juice and bigger than a GBA SP.

    1. Re:Dataplay? by Yorrike · · Score: 2, Interesting
      As much as I prefer Nintendo over Sony, I must cite the fact that Sony has more than a decade of making CD Walkmans / tape walkmans behind them, so the battery life shouldn't be an issue, as they've already layed down the foundation with their CD players.

      For example, my Sony MP3 CD player plays MP3s (decoding them off the CD, while spinning up and slowing down the CD every 30 seconds to fill the buffer), for 30 hours on 2 AA batteries.

      I'm not worried about battery life in the PSP, what I'm concerned with is price point, games (fully 3D handheld games? Just doesn't sound right) and the usual shoddy quality of Sony's past portable devices.

      If their CD players are anything to go by, then the PSPs will last about 1/20 the time a GBA will. Sony has the cool factor, but lack the hardware quality factor, in my experience.

      --

      Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

  2. Is it just me? by wizarddc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is it just me, or does it look like Sony is presenting this purely as a new media format, that they just happen to be using in the PSP? Kinda like the memory stick, Sony seems to be addings another proprietary format to their ranks. Your new VAIO will not only be able to read these, but eventually, they'll be UMD-R's and RW's that will write your AIBO 3.0 code on and slip right into your digi pooch. Or not. I'm only guessing

    --
    Th
  3. Re:PSP UMD vs. GameCube Mini-DVD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Yes, please.

    MiniDisc is the perfect data storage form factor. I forget precisely how much it could hold--I have audio MD gear, not data--but it was the perfect size and shape for portable data. It needs a slightly more durable shell (the little metal thingies don't hold up perfectly, alas), a lot more capacity, and speed, and we're in business.

    Either that, or USB keychains need to get a lot cheaper.