Switched On: Stuck in the Middle with UMD
posted March 30th 2005 4:20PM
After more than a year of fever-pitch hype, the PlayStation Portable didn't need a dramatic corporate shakeup to add more media attention to its launch, but that's what it got. Sony's incoming CEO has been vocal about the company's need to integrate its content and technology assets, and can't help but make progress in a company that has sometimes seemed on the verge of suing itself.
To that end, Sony deserves credit for the flexibility it's offered with its relatively expensive and unpopular Memory Stick Pro Duo. Overall, the PSP has gotten a bad rap for its "convergence" features but it's unfair to paint it with a single brush for all content. While, contrary to the company's positioning, the handheld is no competitor to the incumbent iPod, it does benefit from Sony's recent détente with the MP3 format. Furthermore, the PSP – aided by its dramatic, high-contrast screen - is the best portable photo viewing device targeted to consumers; PictBridge capability would have been a nice bonus. Its main drawback is that one has to quit a game in progress in order to view photos. This modality should be familiar for old Mac hands who remember those innocent, carefree days of computing before MultiFinder.
The PSP accommodates video, on the other hand, via two kinds of media � the awkwardly named Memory Stick Pro Duo for transferred videos and the ironically named �Universal� Media Disc (UMD) for packaged media. American PSP owners currently have to cross-reference the Dungeon Master�s Guide and Monster Manual to get video onto their power-hungry portable, but the process should be eased by better software. (This disqualifies SonicStage, which hardly qualifies as �better� and Connect, which hardly qualifies as �software�.)
Rather, it�s UMD that comes off as the product�s weakest architectural link. Sony was certainly challenged to offer a way to deliver high capacity to its freshman portable gaming device, but the 1.8GB UMD must take at least some of the blame for the relatively slow load times for PSP. Optical discs also shorten battery life. In contrast to the homebrew potential on Memory Stick, there is no way for consumers to burn UMDs. In contrast, Sony could have opted for a 1.5GB 3-inch mini-DVD like those used in the GameCube and its own Handycam camcorders. The 3-inch DVD is a bit larger than a UMD with shell but significantly thinner. Being able to take a disc straight from a Sony camcorder or DVD recorder and play it in a PSP would be a powerful and practical convergence demonstration.
From a technical standpoint, UMD addresses the content distribution dilemma that has plagued other portable video players. The momentum of portable DVD players demonstrates that there�s at least some market for disc-based portable video, but Sony�s approach won�t be sufficient to jumpstart the market. The bold Sony-of-Tomorrow, though, might dispense with UMD altogether and use that precious real estate for a hard drive. Howard Stringer has already publicly mused that the PSP�s next iteration may include such a component. That would make it more competitive with the iPod and compelling competition for portable media players from Microsoft partners Samsung, Creative and iRiver, as well as Thomson and Archos.
Distributing PSP games this way would entail all sorts of challenges from digital rights management to channel conflict, but it would also usher in a new era of convenience. Gamers could keep three or more games on tap without having to carry an Altoids tin full of UMDs around (particularly beneficial since the PSP offers no integrated Altoids storage). It would also open the door for distribution from smaller, innovative developers hamstrung without the support of a major publisher as well as a host of video services offering everything from news clips to independent films heading toward portable media players. That�s the definition of expanding the market. Unfortunately, the only �console� developer to propose distribution primarily through broadband is Infinium Labs, developers of phantasmal Phantom game console and, per its Web site, the �coming 2005� Phantom Game Service.
The PSP was developed at a Sony at war with itself, but its future lies in the promise of the company bringing peace between its contentious camps. For all of the PSP�s multimedia warts, it�s hard to imagine future consoles ignoring other forms of digital media. Sony has made some positive steps in accommodating them, but needs to hit its stride to exploit them.
Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis at NPD Techworld, a division of market research and analysis provider The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On, however, are his own. Feedback is welcome at fliptheswitch@gmail.com.
They should have used cartridges. Possibly even based on MemorySticks - cost to Sony would have been pretty negligible, no? Granted getting 1.5GB or whatever on a cartridge is no SUPER easy feat, but surely they could have given themselves a break on 1GB MemoryStick-based cartridges... the dramatic increase in battery life alone would have outweighed the add'l 500MB of storage capacity methinks.
If you want to charge $50 a game, you can immediately trash the idea of 1GB+ memory sticks.
This proprietary format of media for the PSP (i.e. the UMD) is much of what is deterring those who like the idea of the PSP as a portable media player, but can't seem to justify the price. The PSP is $250. To store any significant amount of video on this device, you'd need to go out and purchase a 1GB MS Duo for another $150. If they had used mini-DVD's (the 3 inch 1.5GB format), I'd be all over this thing. Many people own DVD-R/W drives, and this would provide an easy, inexpensive and convenient way to watch your favorite movies or TV shows on the go. As a portable gaming station, the PSP shines and does what it's supposed to do. As a portable gaming station/media center, the PSP is a flop.
I think that all the 'convergence' features of the PSP are just thigs that Sony's throwing in for free. I don't really think they honestly believe that it's going to be the next big format, they're just throwing it out there and seeing if it sticks. I have a PSP and I think it's great but its value proposition is games.
As far as solid-state media, GBA cartridges hold about 1/50 the data. I think DS cards are around 256 megabytes max. Solid state storage is just too damn expensive. Part of Sony's success with the Playstation was to dramatically reduce costs to developers by not using carts.
Anyway, the PSP is a pretty good gaming machine and in the long run it will be viewed as such.
Mini-DVDs are over an inch larger in diameter than UMD and while that doesn't sound like much if you've used a PSP you could definitely see how that wouldn't work. It's like all the people on Slashdot who complain that every tiny gadget doesn't take CompactFlash not understanding that it would double the item's size.
I totally agree with Mike, burn baby burn... that's what we want! I don't want to buy 65 copies of the same movie... I already paid my rights once, that's enough!
Putting the games on ROM chips would have been much better. ROM chips are MUCH cheaper than rewriteable memory like flash cards and Memory Sticks.
See this thread for a better discussion of it:
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000743034952/
The Engadget editorial above speculates a LOT about what the PSP could become. When they have decent connection/conversion/synchronization software and a cable for free in each package, put a hard drive in the PSP, allow me to burn my own discs, fix the battery and glare problems, I'll give it another look and maybe some consideration.
Until then, it PSP is a dead-end street with a lot of hype.
"Mini-DVDs are over an inch larger in diameter than UMD" Probaly exactly why sony didnt use them. If sony was to use cartridges instead of umd, you would probally see a decrease in the overall look or games. 1 gig and 1.5 gigs might seem like a small diffrence, but if you look closely thats a 500,000 meg diffrence. Without that space you would have to use high compresion, which would lead to blocky or pixalated graphics
I seriously doubt any PSP launch title uses all of the 1.8 gigs of space on the UMD unless it is for uncompressed textures or audio.
Dammit Sony, enough with the proprietary formats! Didn't you learn your lesson with ATRAC?
One thing will launch the PSP into gadget history, and that's if Sony releases a UMD burner.
Unlikely...
Edgar - a dead-end street with a lot of hype? Do you own one? Have you turned it on? Do you know someone who owns one and will let you hold it/turn it on/play a game on it?
It is foremost a gaming machine, despite the hype. To qualify as a convergence device, the following are needed:
1. Better synchronization software
2. Lower memorystick prices
3. Improved firmware to fix the video/audio playback experience (make it simpler, add options to make it more flexible/intuitive/enjoyable)
A hard-drive is not even on the list. If you're waiting for a portable PC for $250, keep waiting. If you want a portable gaming system that can show pictures, movies and play music, buy the PSP today. You can always spend more money later.
Or don't. It's your cash.
Good lord, that Joystiq link is like going to the Nintendorks forums. If you'd read that [my head still hurts] you'll see that the largest cart size offered to date by Nintendo is 128 megabytes and probably costs in the area of $8-10/unit. UMD discs hold 1.8 gigabytes and cost under $2 each to manufacture.
I own a GBA SP and think it's the best portable gaming system ot date. If I could play Wipeout Pure on it I wouldn't have bought a PSP. The simple fact is that it offers a significantly different experience to the other handhelds on the market.
So you want a hard drive, a better battery, free software and the ability to pirate games? You know what? If BMW made M5s that cost $5000 and got 80 miles to the gallon and gave me free tire replacements I'd buy one pretty quick. The PSP is a pretty darn good game playing device and anyone who tries to point out "fatal flaws" is just pissing into the wind. The Gameboy Advance was a good system before the SP came out, it wasn't perfect but it was good. If it bugs you that much just don't buy one and don't drop stupid slashtroll comments all over the internet.
My interpretation is that they created the new format to make it harder for people to pirate the games like you can do with the playstation since it uses DVDs
Those cables that connect to a pc are really cheap... $10.00 at the local Gamestop. If you have a Sony mavica camera, you already have a cable. If that camera uses MS Duo, you are way ahead of the game. Having it use the MS Duo was genius for them. At least it's another use for the damned things. I think leaving the PDA market definitely hurt the demand for the MS Duo Pro.
You will not see UMD burners, since that will allow copyright infringements run even more rampant.
HDDs are always a good idea, but it will impact battery life. I'm sure third party battery makers are salavating at the thought of the higher capacity batteries they have planned.
Those cables that connect to a pc are really cheap... $10.00 at the local Gamestop. If you have a Sony mavica camera, you already have a cable. If that camera uses MS Duo, you are way ahead of the game. Having it use the MS Duo was genius for them. At least it's another use for the damned things. I think leaving the PDA market definitely hurt the demand for the MS Duo Pro.
You will not see UMD burners, since that will allow copyright infringements run even more rampant.
HDDs are always a good idea, but it will impact battery life. I'm sure third party battery makers are salavating at the thought of the higher capacity batteries they have planned.
Well, they could have made the UMD discs DVD-based (unless they are already?) and slapped them into a standard MiniDisc casing. That way the PSP could have recorded data like a removeable drive, 1.5 or whatever gigs per disc. With the caveat that you should have the PSP plugged in when burning, that would have made the value skyrocket - a semi-standard-based disc with recording built-in. Wouldn't have changes the size if you've seen how teeny their MiniDisc recorders are, and they'd have scored big in the convergence arena.
James - the irony is that if they did happen to provide the M5 described above at the above-mentioned price point, BMW would quickly go out of business and you wouldn't be able to get the damned thing serviced.
I am happy with the PSP as delivered. But if Sony expects UMD to be embraced by studios for pre-recorded movies, it will a) never offer burners for sale and b) continue to improve the UMD. DRM-crazy movie studios are not going to embrace "soft" movies in any form for the forseeable future.
Re: the hard drive - what is the MTBF comparison between solid-state memory and a hard drive? What is the battery consumption comparison? What is the cost comparison? The hard drive loses the first two tests but wins the third - which happens to be the least important, IMO.
The Gamecube uses proprietary discs. I don't see people complaining about that. Hard drive media players cost 2-3x as much as the PSP. The Memorystick Duo leads the trend towards smaller memory cards such as miniSD. As time passes more cameras, cell phones, MP3 players and PDAs will use the smaller formats.
A year from now the DS will be obsolete, but the PSP will still be going strong. There are many adults that prefer Sony's adult fare to Nintendo's kiddie stuff. The PSP gave Ninendo a much needed kick in the pants.
How, exactly are UMDs any more proprietary than, say, DS catrs, Gameboy Advance carts, Gameboy carts, etc. No successful portable system ahs ever had an 'open' media format.
The idea of recordable media is a bit contrary to their intentions, don't you think? Why would they want you to be able to record your own UMDs? The convergence appeal is questionable (I don't see portable media centers flying off the shelves, but then again I don't really follow it) but the gaming appeal is fundamental. Naturally they are going to nail every aspect of the latter before they even begin to approach the former.
The memory stick slot was a good compromise to the lack of a recordable primary media. Now maybe people can make home-brew Tetris clones, and I'm sure we'll see emulators before long. And what does Sony care about emulators? There will never be one fast enough to run PS1 games, so the worst it can do is eat away profits from the GBA and older, less powerful systems.
Personally I don't "get" the idea of movies on-the-go. I can't think of anything more boring than sitting in a corner watching a movie by myself on a little handheld screen. Just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we'll want to. I guarantee this aspect of the PSP will be a huge flop.
James -- Sorry to burst your bubble, the DS cartridges can hold up to 1 GB... not 256 max. Granted they still have less capacity than UMD's, they are definately no sloutch.
Jason;
> And what does Sony care about emulators?
When somebody releases an emulator that I can put on a stick, for say Atari 2600 or even MAME, then I'm getting this thing right away.
If you can program your own games on this thing, I'm getting it! I really hope Sony left the door open for some hacking without the need of opening the hardware (ala mod chips)
"Sonys incoming CEO has been vocal about the companys need to integrate its content and technology assets, and cant help but make progress in a company that has sometimes seemed on the verge of suing itself."
This is wishful thinking. The elevation of Howard Stringer ensures that Sony will follow the mindless DRM Everywhere zealotry. He has been a very vocal proponent of DRM. This is a typical example of his attitude, from a speech before the Royal Television Society from late last year:
"We cannot secure this future, however, without first winning the battle against piracy. We cannot expect creators to release their work into the media either without safeguarding rights to their intellectual property."
Comes right from Jack Valenti's playbook. It was Ken Kutaragi who understood how debilitating the obsession with copy protection was to the company and industry. He even criticized Sony publicly over it back in January. Probably why he lost out to Stringer.
Ryan: That's one GigaBIT aka 128 megabytes current maximum for DS cartridges. My intial post was too generous. There's a difference [an eightfold one].
link:
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-11722-1231-x-x-x
If Sony wants to compete with media and music players they have to offer comparable features. Without a hard drive (even a micro 4,5, or 6 GB) they cannot possibly compete with Apple or Creative or any viable music player.
The appeal of most media players is that they play media you already own, also. I'm not sure if buying new media via UMD can possibly supplant watching prerecorded television on a media player.
For me, the PSP is a gaming device. It still has a ways to go before it's a universal device for music, movies, scheduling, games, phone calls, eliminating my enemies, and conquering the world.
All that said, I'm sure it won't be long before a self powered USB hard drive is available and (with a little bigger footprint) all my music and movies will come with me everywhere.
Unless of course it has DRM, the scourge of portability.
Just about the entire entertainment industry is obsessed with piracy. Valve, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to name just a few. From here on out it's only going to worsen. The next generation of computers and digital devices will have hardware-based DRM. It could also be the beginning of the end for industry-standard storage formats. Throw in a zillion different formats to make things difficult for pirates. Who cares what the buying public thinks? They can't live without our devices and media. The Supreme Court could hasten this deplorable trend.
Doubtful I agree with you that the PSP cannot compete with the likes of Creative or Apple, but I don't see them as the target competition. This piece of technology is all about the games and it's squarely aimed at Nintendo.
I am so sick of people perpetuating the myth that Memory Sticks are unpopular or expensive in comparison to other flash formats. Memory stick is widely used in many different electronics by many manufacturers.
The statement relatively expensive and unpopular Memory Stick Pro Duo is just wrong. Relative to what? I went to Amazon.com and checked some pricing. I found the following:
$39.88 - 256MB SD Card
$38.99 - 256MB Memory Stick PRO Duo
Sure, if I hunt around on different sites I can find SD cards cheaper and on others I can find Memory Sticks cheaper.
The myth of Memory Stick as unpopular is again just wrong. There are currently 601 manufacturers supporting Memory Stick listed on the www.memorystick.com website. This to me sounds like it is doing quite well. More than 50 million compatible products have been shipped worldwide and the total media shipped has exceeded 60 million.
Also, unlike many other manufacturers Sony is very consistent with their use of Memory Stick media. The media is used in just about every category of electronics they make. If as I do you use Sony products it is nice to be able to have the same sticks for your digital camera, camcorder, notebook, Clie, PSP and other Sony gear.
First advocating that the psp use cartridges is ridiculous, the price is off, the storage space is poor... it offers no single advantage-- I have been a big Nintendo fan, and have given them the benefit of the doubt many times, but when it comes to the DS I think they really missed the mark.
I also agree that a hobby-development kit would be a smart move for Sony-- they have done it before, and it worked out for them. I also do see myself buying this and watching UMD movies-- sometimes it is hard to sit around and play games.
A device like this could spawn a lot of cool new forms of content. I imagine that directors could do serial movies, similar to the old serials from the black and white era- Do a serial-type feature and release a new chapter every month- at a much lower price.
I hope that with new leadership Sony is able to give this product some staying power-- and the only way they will do that is through decent games, and content-- two major things the Nintendo DS is sorely missing at the moment.
The best thing Sony could do would be to not only dump ATRAC3 but also agree to an alliance with Apple over the iTunes Music Store and start implementing AAC+Fairplay compatibility across-the-board. Sony Connect is a failure and only a partnership involving iTunes will keep Microsoft & Co. frozen out of the market. The PSP will never be a real competitor to the iPod, but it certainly would be nice to play AAC music files on it...or at least have that option (which is more important anyway). It would be nice if more people wrote to Stringer directly and requested that he reverse his predecessor's rebuffing of Steve Jobs' offer to the iTunes partnership. The same goes for implementing iTunes compatibility in the PS3...allowing for AAC streaming as well as a portal to purchasing tracks from the iTunes Store directly in the living room. Another thing that would be nice to add to the PSP (maybe with a model starting at $299) would be to include PalmOS. We all know the license is only $10 per unit. A $50 price differential would make up for the cost. This is the one thing the Tapwave excells at over the PSP. I myself don't want to see PDAs disappear completely. I think the cell phone/PDA is a lame combination because the emphasis on mobile phones is miniaturization, which runs counter to having a decent sized screen. The same goes for making mobile phones into MP3 players. I'm sorry, but I want my phone charged for calls, not to deplete the batteries to listen to songs. The only reason why I'm interested in the iTunes compatible phone is for the ringtone(s) possibility. Likewise, implementing a mini-OSX, an updated NewtonOS, or PalmOS into the iPod would be icing on the top and a cheap-and-easy way for Apple to revive that market and instantly become the dominant force in it.
Somehow I have the feeling that the browser issue, better aiduo/video experiences issue are all in sony's making and will eventually be release via firmware fixs in the near future. yet UMD can't be helped coz they don't want the games to be parited like PS2.
PS. Seeing that Sony threw some cash to TiVo to advertise the PSP directly to TiVo owners courtesy of the "daily call" download (I received the commercial two nights ago), it would be really cool for Sony to invest some money into TiVo in implementing PSP compatibility in the TiVo-2-Go option. That would compell me into buying a unit. Its too bad nobody at SCEA thought about throwing some cash at 3D Realms and made them finish Duke Nukem Forever and released it as an exclusive on the PSP. Considering how long its been on the backburner in development, the chances that the title would be stunning on consoles and PCs are remote at best, but I'm sure it would excell on the PSP.
Jeremy, great idea about AAC and Sony devices (PSP and PS3). Sony Connect is an embarassement, and I have no idea why they don't just shut it down (I can't even look at it with my browser, Firefox!).
On the Palm enabled PSP, I don't think it's worth it for Sony to do this. Specially considering the PSP doesn't have a good input device for a PalmOS.
ATRAC/ATRAC3 is still actively used in Japan by way of MiniDisc and EMDs, so it's not really a good example of "proprietary Sony crap."
http://www.techjapan.com/Article723.html
All I hear is:
Blah..Blah..Blah..UMD SUCKS..Blah..Blah..Blah..
This thing about PSP is that it's got so much potential: locationfree tv, wifi surfing client, personal a/v device - yet it's all up in the air for now. That's why I am still waiting - my "no 1st gen" policy seems working all right so far...
If the UMD discs were solely for games, then I wouldn't debate the issue of burning these type of discs. But with the release of Spiderman 2 on UMD; well now, Sony has just tempted me to imagine the possibilities. Releasing theater movies on a new format will unlikely succeed: only VHS and DVD truely made it for this type of media. But to think of the other possibilities, UMDs can be used for home movies, cartoons for the kids recorded from tv for those long trips, and downloading internet media from The Broken, Channel 101, or iFilm. Now that would be awesome. If that happens.
I don't mind the new Duo chip, since its smaller and faster. A 1GB goes for $122 which is really not bad - the Sony brand is $199 - not sure what the difference is. Anyway, 2GB Duos will be available too.
The PSP is really pretty good, and will undoubtly succeed as a game machine, and if Sony plays its cards right, will also be a great portable mulitmedia player too.
Why not Hi-MiniDisk liek they use in their music players. They are incredibly reliable, can go up to 2gb, are small, are read/write, and SOny is a big player in that market.
All the "flaws" of the PSP that have been mentioned are not really flaws. Sony planned the PSP that way and they are sticking to it. I am glad that Sony did not do everything you guys want, or else it would not be $250.
Wishful thinking is what you guys are doing. Yes, I would be much happier if what you guys want is true, but it was never expected from Sony or ANY other company for that matter.
I just want to think in more realistic terms. Discussing the potential of future products is a very good thing, but as far as the PSP goes, this is what we have NOW and it fits the agenda just right.
I am sure Sony is not profitting from the PSP units themselves. This is especially true in Japan, where it also comes without the value pack for about 50 US cheaper.
One (of many reasons) to have a value pack-only version in the US is to help break even on these things. Please consider than when you complain about the unite.
Feel free to correct me on the profit stuff - thats what I've always heard, but I could be wrong. :/
WOW can some people complain. Bunch of wood titted sissies!
Criticism is all most of you have. Most without any qualification or engineering experience.
The PSP is well put together. The games are great. Many many people are loving it. Give any kid one, and see how their faces lit up. thats worth it already.
I think people vs. UMD vs mini DVD is just a case of people not wanting to pay $ 49 for a game, but rather copy it at home. Those gamers who are screaming the loudest about PSP all have modded XBOX at home, and dont pay a dime for games.
Blah blah. I can just hear the rebuttals, but the fact is, people want to pay $ 250 for a PSP and nothing for games. How is Sony supposed to make money?
Look at the Apple iPod Shuffle. its $ 149. What do you get in that package?
No need to say anything more.
It sounds to me that people want this to be a mini personal computer. Someone had said that elsewhere and they are absolutely right. For $250.00 you get a kick ass portable gaming system that has some other functions, but it's not a full blown mini computer.
Jason-
Sorry man, but I have to call BS on a lot of what you said. You said:
----
The statement relatively expensive and unpopular Memory Stick Pro Duo is just wrong. Relative to what? I went to Amazon.com and checked some pricing. I found the following:
$39.88 - 256MB SD Card
$38.99 - 256MB Memory Stick PRO Duo
----
So I looked myself. What did I find?
256 MB SD card for $27.99 (via TigerDirect)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008SCFU/qid=1112240163/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8299154-8647237?v=glance&s=electronics
256 MB Memory Stick Pro Duo for $86.97 (used only)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000D8HLL/002-8299154-8647237?v=glance&s=electronics
Amazon.com thinks I meant 128 MB Memory Stick - which $42.49 (but you need to add it to your cart to see the price.
So I think the facts clearly support Mr. Rojas here. Next!
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The myth of Memory Stick as unpopular is again just wrong. There are currently 601 manufacturers supporting Memory Stick listed on the www.memorystick.com website.
----
Hmmm...scrolling through the list (http://www.memorystick.com/en/companies/index.html), I see that there a number of companies whose "support" of Memory Stick I have to question. There are a number of motherboard manufacturers listed - and I have never heard of a motherboard with integrated Memory Stick support. Palm, Inc is also listed - the only support I know of for Palm products with Memory Stick is Sony's own PalmOS devices.
I will agree with you on this:
----
Also, unlike many other manufacturers Sony is very consistent with their use of Memory Stick media.
----
It would be nice, and supporting two or three different formats is a pain in the butt; but the expense of Sony products - and the expense of Sony-propietary media on top of that - leaves the consumer's wallet a lot lighter if they choose to go all-Sony in their digital lifestyle.
I think the UMD is great! And who cares about read-only UMD disks? There is already a Japanese company that has a beta version out of an app that you install on the memorystick that will read the UMD and transfer it to your computers hard drive via the PSP WI-FI. And vise versa, read from your computers hard drive back to the PSP. So soon, we will be able to trade and share roms with all of our friends! And this is just within a few months. Just think what will be out there in another 6 months.
"256 MB SD card for $27.99 (via TigerDirect)
256 MB Memory Stick Pro Duo for $86.97 (used only)"
------------------------------------------------------------
Sandisk 256MB MemoryStick Pro Duo (Retail) $34.51
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?submit=Go&DEPA=0&CMP=OTC-Froogle&description=N82E16820191416
Andrew, to be fair, this is Ross Rubin's column.
"$39.88 - 256MB SD Card
$38.99 - 256MB Memory Stick PRO Duo"
Sorry bud, I bought a 256MB SD card for less than $10...shipped. After rebate of course.
couple comments
1. the difference in disc diameter between the umd and the minidisc is actually about .7 inches, get your facts straight
2. 500000 megs? I don't even know what to say to that, what an idiot. the difference is 500 megs, for your information.
3. Somebody who actually says that it was a good idea for Sony to use the expensive ms duo instead of the sd card are obviously sony fanboys with no concept of reality. What exactly would have been the downside of using sd huh? You can get, literally, about twice the storage for the same price. Real geniuses at Sony. Oh and by the way, it is about exactly the same size as the sd card. I think the sd card is about a mm wider, 4 mm longer, and half a mm thicker, which would have made absolutely no difference in the size of the psp, given the other space hogging devices present. Somebody actually used minisd and memory stick duo in the same sentence, so unbelievably misinformed.
4. People that try to compare the GameCube and the psp in the same sentence just to try to defend their precious little treasure don't know what their talking about. What exactly was the disadvantage to using proprietary discs on the Game Cube. It doesn't have any media playing capabilities, it is not supposed to. The only disadvantage it had at launch was that it couldn't play regular dvds compared to its competitors, and that paled next to its other shortcomings.
5. Oh my gawd, you people keep whining about how all of the other portable systems used proprietary formats. So what? These systems didn't have any ability to play anything other than games, they weren't supposed to, and their prices reflected that. Sorry to say you got no point.
6. Stringer doesn't seem better than anyone else, but it is no big wonder why Kuturagi didn't win the spot? Maybe because he is insane? You guys catch that speech where he defended the stuck button problem on the psp by saying that we were wrong to say anything bad about the psp, that it would be like criticizing a master architect because he put a column wrong somewhere. His forward progress through Sony ended that day.
7. Oh and definitely 128 megabytes is nothing compared to the 1.8 gigs of the psp, but it might amuse you to know that the regular old memory stick duo, you know the original version that is cheaper and would probably appeal to consumers, is also capped at 128 MB. If you wanted the highly coveted 512, 1 G sizes, you have to go to the more expensive memory stick pro duo. (You can get the regular old sd card in sizes as big as 2 gigs) A 512 MB pro duo retails for 155, and a 2 gig sd retails for $245. Enough said.
Wow, alseides, you sound like Kuturagi. I wonder... If one is reasonable, one would have to admit that there are many thing that Sony could have done better with the PSP. A hard drive is a little unrealistic, but using a standard minidvd would have made a lot of sense, and I am sure that Sony could have thrown some drm crap on the disks they sold with games that would have prevented them from being copied, and even if that was eventually broken, I doubt that fact would hurt game sales or enthusiasm for the product. (Doesn't seem to with ps2 and xbox). They should have used the sd format instead of the expensive and comparatively poorly implemented in consumer electronics memory stick pro duo. I have a sd slot in my x1000, and I will have one in my shuttle, along with having one in my ipaq and axim. Now I suppose if I had a couple vaio and a couple old clies I could make the same claim, but the second I go outside Sony, I am out of luck aren't I. (Keeping in mind the handful of manufacturers Sony has close relationships with and has paid off to include memory stick (although usually not duo) along with sd and others)
Hi Everyone! First time I post here, nice to meet you all.
Just want to add my two cents:
I think it's great that PSP used UMD instead of flash memory. The use of UMD definitely keep the cost of games at around 50 dollars while offering PS2 quality games. DS cartidges only can offer 128MB memory according to gamespot. That's not even 1/10 of UMD's memory.
Although it's sad that there won't be an UMD burner, I can understand why Sony make this decision. Too many people just like to pirate games for free instead of paying for them! If they release a UMD burner, I think Sony would lose quite a bit of money on this PSP project. I think when Nintendo created their own media format for Gamecube, they have the same idea in mind. They don't want people to copy the games! Sony is try to make up this part by giving PSP the ability to read MS Duo. There are programs such as PSP Video 9 where I can put mp3 and anime videos on to my PSP's memory stick no problem! I agree MS is quite a bit more expensive comparing to other flash memory formats. Sony should definitely cut the prices on memory stick. Memory stick duo does have some advantages though. I can use the same stick for my PSP and my Sony camera. I am also amazed at the size of memory stick duo. It's pretty compact and easy to carry in my opinion.
Overall I think PSP is an excellent machine for its price. I mainly use it as a mp3 player and for games. I also used it to watch anime on my way to school on the bus. I was going to get an iPod before but changed my mind after seeing the PSP. PSP is a little bit bulky as an mp3 player...but I find it still acceptable.
The fate of the UMD form factor lies in the hands of the pr0n industry. Period.