PSP firmware 2.80, the aftermath
In case anyone missed it, the guys at PSP Fanboy went a little wild over yesterday's release of the 2.80 firmware. Some of us are still nervous about losing homebrew functionality by upgrading our firmware, but for those of you with no such compunction, get upgrading!
To make the whole thing easier for you, PSP Fanboy's Andrew Yoon detailed the good, the bad, and the wants (in 2.81). Here's a taste:
One of the goods: Sony's finally getting the message that we don't want to deal with their messed up video naming conventions. Folders are now smart: they're called "VIDEO" "MUSIC" and "PHOTO". Being able to put humanly named files into the video section is excellent. Supporting iPod video is yet another step in the right direction. Will I ever use PSP Video 9 again? Most likely not. I will just use QuickTime Pro, or happily use the tons of iPod-formatted video out on the web.
One of the bads: "Downloading demos now is still unintuitive. Why can't we have a folder called "GAME" and just dump one file. There's no reason why we should be naming folders ULUS4576 or something like that. It's not too hard, but not everyone thinks like a computer programmer."
One of the wants: "As much as I'd like to see Sony offer full 480x272 video on our PSPs, that's not going to happen any time soon. However, I want them to get rid of that glitch that makes PSP videos unplayable in the PSP's new "VIDEO" folder. All video files should be able to go in there without any thinking at all."
It's heartening to see Sony making efforts to ameliorate the entirely too cumbersome process of getting media onto the PSP. Turning the firmware updates into value adds and not just homebrew killers is the way to go ... though we'd still really like to see 480x272 video. Oh, and in case you weren't paying attention, we've added some new bloggers to the PSP Fanboy team, so stop by and see what they've been up to.
See also:
Joystiq interviews Sony PSP's John Koller
