You know you're right... I may be expecting too much out of the PSP. Portable video players are in the $500 range. MP3 players are anywhere from $40-$400. Gaming machines are a different breed.
As for gadgets: iPod mini does the MP3s, Motorola A630 does the phone/text/mobile stuff and weak PDA usage, Minolta DiMAGE X20 does the pictures...
But now I want to take video on the road and don't see a good solution for that under $500. (grumble) I hope the PSP opens up UMD or drops the price of the Duo sticks, but until then I wait.
It's good to get your view on this and it's nice to be challenged by someone who defends their opinion.
To put it simply - I WANT ONE but can't justify the $250 price tag on something that's intentionally limited where it doesn't need to be. I believe games and movies will come out at equal paces because Sony has the whole Sony Pictures Library at their disposal, but games still need to wait for their developers.
I know that the motivation behind "not providing UMD-R discs" is "game protection" and that's understandable. It'd be a simple software (firmware?) hack to make recordable discs non-executable though. Basically - music and movie files can be read off UMD-R discs, but no programs can be run from them. That's as setting some flag in "factory" discs that can't be emulated in writable discs. If that was available and I could burn the movies and music I own to low-cost, write-once 2 gig UMD discs. I'd buy a PSP today.
But then, they'd lose their side profit on licensing costs to memory manufacturers on the Memory Stick Duo format... so we, as consumers, have to suck it up:(
Does it come with a full game? No. It comes with a full UMD version of Spider-Man 2 though. To me, it seems that the bundle would encourage people to see it as more of a multimedia/entertainment device instead of just a gaming device. If it was primarily a game device, wouldn't it come with a full GAME instead?
Au contraire.
http://www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx
Photos. Videos. Music. Games.
Quote taken directly from the site: Introducing the PSP (PlayStation Portable).
The Portable Entertainment Revolution Has Arrived.
See my reply above - This isn't billed as a game device. It's sold as a game, movie, and music device. The latter two require either purchasing movies on UMD (then having only the PSP on which to watch them) or using overpriced propriatary removable storage (Memory Stick Duo)
OK you got me on that one...
But this isn't just sold as a game box. It's sold as a game/movie/music box. However, you can only get movies on UMD if you buy them directly on UMD (and then you can't play them on anything but the PSP) and $150 per gig of storage for music is obnoxious. You can get a rack of iPod shuffles for that price;)
The PSP would be a fantastic handheld with it's brilliant screen and fantastic hardware......except...
They need to make UMD-R. Seriously. I am not going to pay 50%+ more (versus SD) for a 1G Memory Stick Duo that will not work in any other device I own just so I can carry around some extra media. Come on Sony. Didn't you learn your lesson about propriatary formats yet?
Downside of FM? I flew out to Chicago for a weekend in Feb. to visit the area where I grew up. I borrowed my friend's iTrip mini but forgot to load it with the tuner tracks... anyway.
When I got there, the FM frequency on the iTrip was clobbered by a regular FM station, so I had to listen to regular radio in my rental car. By the end of the weekend, I swore I'd beat someone down if I had to hear ONE MORE OBNOXIOUS USED CAR COMMERCIAL.
I pay for my music so I don't have to deal with the pain of advertising.
You know, I was kinda waiting for that since I posted I was "Pyromancer" for a good long time, but gave it up on the 1st because I haven't done fire performing in some time. I picked up DemonWeeping because it was available in livejournal/AIM/Yahoo/gmail/MSN/Slashdot/.com all at once. It wasn't until after I deployed the site did I realize how gothy it sounded. How tragic.
For those who don't know what's so hot about it and for those who think Livejournal is just a bunch of teenage girls whining....
Livejournal has just about four years of my life documented. The ease of use and the ability to "vent" is comforting, but the real value comes in the interaction. My friends see my life at their convenience and I see theirs at mine. We can choose to ignore the whining of others or we can choose to relate and comment on our own experience.
Think of it this way: Open-source philosophy, emotion, and life. I put my own out there and others add to it. I add mine to others.
Granted... those quiz/meme things HAVE TO GO. I do not want to read about "what frog best resembles me" or "which 80's hair band song is me." Grrr.
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ME TOO!
You know you're right... I may be expecting too much out of the PSP. Portable video players are in the $500 range. MP3 players are anywhere from $40-$400. Gaming machines are a different breed.
...
As for gadgets: iPod mini does the MP3s, Motorola A630 does the phone/text/mobile stuff and weak PDA usage, Minolta DiMAGE X20 does the pictures
But now I want to take video on the road and don't see a good solution for that under $500. (grumble) I hope the PSP opens up UMD or drops the price of the Duo sticks, but until then I wait.
It's good to get your view on this and it's nice to be challenged by someone who defends their opinion. To put it simply - I WANT ONE but can't justify the $250 price tag on something that's intentionally limited where it doesn't need to be. I believe games and movies will come out at equal paces because Sony has the whole Sony Pictures Library at their disposal, but games still need to wait for their developers. I know that the motivation behind "not providing UMD-R discs" is "game protection" and that's understandable. It'd be a simple software (firmware?) hack to make recordable discs non-executable though. Basically - music and movie files can be read off UMD-R discs, but no programs can be run from them. That's as setting some flag in "factory" discs that can't be emulated in writable discs. If that was available and I could burn the movies and music I own to low-cost, write-once 2 gig UMD discs. I'd buy a PSP today. But then, they'd lose their side profit on licensing costs to memory manufacturers on the Memory Stick Duo format... so we, as consumers, have to suck it up :(
Does it come with a full game? No. It comes with a full UMD version of Spider-Man 2 though. To me, it seems that the bundle would encourage people to see it as more of a multimedia/entertainment device instead of just a gaming device. If it was primarily a game device, wouldn't it come with a full GAME instead?
Au contraire.
http://www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx
Photos. Videos. Music. Games.
Quote taken directly from the site:
Introducing the PSP (PlayStation Portable). The Portable Entertainment Revolution Has Arrived.
See my reply above - This isn't billed as a game device. It's sold as a game, movie, and music device. The latter two require either purchasing movies on UMD (then having only the PSP on which to watch them) or using overpriced propriatary removable storage (Memory Stick Duo)
OK you got me on that one... But this isn't just sold as a game box. It's sold as a game/movie/music box. However, you can only get movies on UMD if you buy them directly on UMD (and then you can't play them on anything but the PSP) and $150 per gig of storage for music is obnoxious. You can get a rack of iPod shuffles for that price ;)
The PSP would be a fantastic handheld with it's brilliant screen and fantastic hardware... ...except...
They need to make UMD-R. Seriously. I am not going to pay 50%+ more (versus SD) for a 1G Memory Stick Duo that will not work in any other device I own just so I can carry around some extra media. Come on Sony. Didn't you learn your lesson about propriatary formats yet?
Downside of FM?
I flew out to Chicago for a weekend in Feb. to visit the area where I grew up. I borrowed my friend's iTrip mini but forgot to load it with the tuner tracks... anyway.
When I got there, the FM frequency on the iTrip was clobbered by a regular FM station, so I had to listen to regular radio in my rental car. By the end of the weekend, I swore I'd beat someone down if I had to hear ONE MORE OBNOXIOUS USED CAR COMMERCIAL.
I pay for my music so I don't have to deal with the pain of advertising.
You know, I was kinda waiting for that since I posted
I was "Pyromancer" for a good long time, but gave it up on the 1st because I haven't done fire performing in some time. I picked up DemonWeeping because it was available in livejournal/AIM/Yahoo/gmail/MSN/Slashdot/.com all at once. It wasn't until after I deployed the site did I realize how gothy it sounded. How tragic.
*stapling hand to forehead*
For those who don't know what's so hot about it and for those who think Livejournal is just a bunch of teenage girls whining.... Livejournal has just about four years of my life documented. The ease of use and the ability to "vent" is comforting, but the real value comes in the interaction. My friends see my life at their convenience and I see theirs at mine. We can choose to ignore the whining of others or we can choose to relate and comment on our own experience. Think of it this way: Open-source philosophy, emotion, and life. I put my own out there and others add to it. I add mine to others. Granted ... those quiz/meme things HAVE TO GO. I do not want to read about "what frog best resembles me" or "which 80's hair band song is me." Grrr.