Today Sony released the PSP Media Manager for download at $19.95. A packaged version, to be shipped November 22, will run $29.95 but will include a six-foot USB cable, sample content, and 5 free song downloads from the Sony Connect music store.
What does it do? Read on (from Sony’s website):
Maximize the Power of Your PSP System
Now there is an easy way to experience the full entertainment capabilities of your PSP (PlayStation Portable) system. Much more than a game console, your PSP system is a digital photo album, movie player, and portable music device all rolled into one. PSP Media Manager is the easiest and fastest way to move content to your PSP system for portable playback and sharing wherever you go.Simple Drag and Drop
PSP Media Manager lets you preview photos, videos, and music on your PC. Simply select the files you want to transfer to your PSP system and drag them to the My PSP pane. There’s no need to worry about folder creation and no need to worry about file formats. PSP Media Manager does all the work for you!Photo
Transfer and share your photos on your PSP system. PSP Media Manager automatically displays your photos as thumbnails so you can see several photos at a glance. A simple drag-and-drop operation copies your photos to your PSP system for immediate viewing. You can even rotate the photo before transferring to your device. PSP Media Manager supports popular image formats including .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .png, and .tif.Music
Adding your favorite tunes to your PSP system is easy with PSP Media Manager. PSP Media Manager locates music files on your PC for easy preview and transfer. The software handles many types of music files including .mp3, .wav, .wma, .ogg, and .m4a. PSP Media Manager also has built-in CD extraction and Gracenote CD album identification, so you can transfer your favorite songs from CD to your PSP system.Video
It’s a snap to transfer video clips and movies from your PC to your PSP system. PSP Media Manager supports .mp4, .avi, .mpg, .mov, .wmv, and other popular video formats. The software automatically converts your files to high-quality Sony AVC/AAC video for optimized viewing on the PSP system.Game
Never lose your game saves again. PSP Media Manager lets you back up game saves, copy saved games between your PC and PSP system, delete game saves that you no longer need, and move game saves across Memory Stick Duo media.Feeds
Keep up with the latest podcasts and video blogs. PSP Media Manager makes it easy to subscribe to feeds from anywhere on the Internet for automatic transfer to your PSP system. The software includes a built-in directory of popular music, spoken word, photo, magazine, video, and comic strip feeds to get you started. One click automatically updates your PSP system with the latest episodes.
Podcast and video blog support? Customizable compression options for music, movies, and images? Looks like SpotAnime gets what it wishes. Now where’s that redesigned PSP?
AzelEdge
/ November 2, 2005Hey when do you want to do podcasts?
Jeremy
/ November 2, 2005Soon! As soon as I figure out how to record a two-way conversation with Skype. Right now with all the virtual cables and extra software it’s a pain. But soon!
Jeremy
/ November 7, 2005So I’ve been playing around with the PSP Media Manager and like it so far. It’s finally a way for me to keep track of my podcast feeds without having to load up a separate application dedicated for just that one task.
I haven’t tried out the video conversion yet. I can say it needs some more options. AAC conversion is only low and high quality. And It doesn’t recognize Xvid as a video file, so you can’t create a PSP video from an Xvid source.
I also didn’t try converting music to MP3, but it will do that straight from a CD. My music was already converted into MP3, so I just copied it into the window.
Files are copied in the background, so you can still do actions while the program goes through the transfer queue. Very nice.
Backup works good too. That’s a nice function for backing up not only my game saves, but also each memory card and keeping their contents separate (I have three memory cards).
It needs a couple of things:
1. Another tab for “Common” files in the MM. The files that don’t fit anywhere else. Like for offline web pages, non-media files. Things like that.
2. A Feeds section on the PSP. Right now it copies all feeds into music and integrates them with any other MP3 files on the PSP. I wish I could just sync my podcasts and then play them separate from music files without creating a playlist or manual folder.