Portable Copy makes us wonder why we still have UMD

The Portable Copy feature shown off at the Blu-ray interactivity demo is a nice bit of functionality. Buy a Blu-ray disc and you can easily put an optimized copy of the content onto your PSP. Sounds good to us, but it really makes us wonder what use UMD has anymore. If it ever had any real utility to begin with, that is. Sure, UMD may be useful for those who don't have a PS3 and want to get the portable movie fix, but the format is losing visibility in the retail space and even before that, things weren't so rosy. Only Sony can decide when it's time to let go of UMD, but the first step in solving a problem is identifying that it exists.

[Shinogu @ Jan 8th 2008 1:36AM]

The only good thing about UMD is having a desired movie for playback in high quality without taking up MSduo space. If somehow miraculously the Blu-ray to PSP doesn't require a MSduo upgrade, then I'm all for it.

[Azayzel @ Jan 8th 2008 6:57AM]

Yup! It's probably a lot cheaper to stamp Read-Only MemorySticks with the movies on them. Takes up less space and uses less power. $ony's just hanging on to another Beta-Max fiasco (at least BD-DVD's are winning their fight). I also believe that it was the UMD's poor performance that really ruined what the PSP could have been. Sony just needs to face the music that their games run so much better from a MS than a UMD; case in point, Midnight Club 3: Dub, excellent/fun game who's load times almost made you cry, put it on a MS and load times were gone, best racer on the PSP!

[Shinogu @ Jan 8th 2008 7:07AM]

Funny how you pulled Betamax out of nowhere, since it's not like UMD Movies are competing with another format. It's just a product that could have been distributed through a much more efficient process. And you bring up Read-only MSduo's, which would be much easier for the modders and hackers to crack and distribute those movies as easily as the whole piracy field goes than UMD would seem. But then you see UMD games in .iso form floating around so blarg.

Sony's already having various games that released on UMD on their online store. One hopes for their not-so-visually intensive hits to get there, like Loco Roco or the upcoming echochrome.

[NickS @ Jan 8th 2008 8:12PM]

Actually, the UMD [i]is[/i] competing with the DVD. I can choose to buy a UMD or spend the same amount of money on a DVD that I can rip to my memory stick. The UMD has never successfully COMPETED for my $ when it came to buy a movie.

[omf @ Jan 8th 2008 1:36AM]

Isn't that like asking why we still have navels?

[kyle allen @ Jan 8th 2008 2:10AM]

no

[Taylor @ Jan 8th 2008 3:38AM]

yes

[Wolfticket @ Jan 8th 2008 6:46AM]

Maybe

[jakfoood @ Jan 11th 2008 1:14AM]

so

[jakfoood @ Jan 11th 2008 1:14AM]

so

[Justin @ Jan 8th 2008 1:40AM]

Hey look! Another failed format by Sony!

Next on the chopping block, Blu-ray!

*runs away*

[omf @ Jan 8th 2008 1:43AM]

Too sleepy to hunt you down and slit your hamstrings. {yawn}

[Justin @ Jan 8th 2008 1:45AM]

haha I'm not even on a side for the format war. DVD for the win!
I just saw the opportunity to poke fun at Sony and I took it :]

[omf @ Jan 8th 2008 1:47AM]

I've got a stack of MiniDiscs that work well as Ninja throwing stars. You watch yourself.

[Justin @ Jan 8th 2008 1:57AM]

I gots lots of.... uhhh pens :]
Speaking of minidiscs...

[Eh @ Jan 8th 2008 3:07AM]

Considering UMD was never meant to be used outside of PSP I dont know how it would be considered a failed format. Betamax was a failure, UMD is still serving its main purpose as a means of delivering games to the PSP. If UMD is a failure then so is the Nintendo 64 cartridge and every other proprietary game media known to man.

[Taylor @ Jan 8th 2008 3:54AM]

@ Eh
Actually, UMD stands for "univeral media disc", and was intended to be used in your PSP and the standalone in-home player that they DID make for it. The idea, which isn't completely terrible, is that you bought a movie and you could watch it at home, or on the go on your PSP, which you already had because apparently everyone loves gaming and only buys sony products. I say it wasn't a terrible idea because really, it's a good idea - except that i don't want a PSP, and because shortly after the PSP came out with UMD, high-def media became popular and suddenly the UMD didn't hold enough data. If the UMD held 30 gigs or whatever, i'm sure sony would have pushed that, but we want 1080p and it just can't do that.

To be honest, i love the idea of UMD and the MiniDisc before that, because they're way more durable than a bare disc. If i could throw my media in a bag without worrying about scratching it or breaking it, i'd be thrilled. I can, actually, because i pirate everything and put it on my portable hard drive, but until the media companies wake up and offer easily-downloadable movies that aren't laced with DRM, i'll keep on doing that. Still, if i had to use physical media, i'd love it if it were encased in a nice plastic shell like the UMD.

But the real point is that yes, actually, the UMD WAS supposed to be universal, but it failed, and it should just go away.

And on that note - as much as you insist that it's just like the N64 cartridge format... it isn't, is it? They could easily make a PSP with a hard drive and let you just download the game instead of requiring this crazy medium - the modders have proven that. And the thing is, wouldn't you rather do that? But the N64 was different because the technology just wasn't there, so i can't blame them. Nowadays though, there's no excuse beyond backwards compatibility, and if they really cared they could let you mail them their games and give you a free download.

I bet the next portables will do this (only by then they'll forgo the hard drive for flash, since it's teh new hotness), especially if MS makes one...
-Taylor

[JJ @ Jan 8th 2008 1:47AM]

Well OMF,
You are gonna have to realize that many people just hate Sony. Period. Bluray vs. HDVD.. whatever.

Anywayysssss. UMDs just collect dust in my apartment. 16gb mem.stick is out soon. 8gb is sitting at around $100-150 these days. Enough for two movies and a game.

[JD @ Jan 8th 2008 4:50AM]

Those kind of prices on Memory Sticks? I'd happily suggest to sony that SD be used, since that is so much cheaper and more universal. You can get 8 GB of SD for $40. 16 GB for $80. Yikes. Memory Stick is a dead format except for Sony Products, but sony is too proud to move to a different format that wasn't invented by Sony.

[KC @ Jan 8th 2008 5:11AM]

Hey JD, do you know who came up with the CD format?

[Temple @ Jan 8th 2008 1:47AM]

UMD is clearly abandoned by Sony. Its all about Blu-ray.

Personally, I think its a great idea to have a "portable" copy included on the Blu-ray disk. I would love for this 'portable' copy to also be iPod compatible as well (which I guess is possible since the PSP and iPod both support the same codecs).

[omf @ Jan 8th 2008 1:51AM]

My point was that UMD was a reasonably good idea at the time the PSP was being developed since flash memory was no where near as cheap as it is today.

They just can't retroactively remove the UMD drive from all the PSP's out there...

Makes you wonder what the next major version of the PSP will use for storage, though. I suppose it could be built-in flash, but how do you distribute games (unless you do it all over the Internet)?

[MatthewJ @ Jan 8th 2008 4:11AM]

You couldn't really. I mean, there are people out there without the internet still. And even those who have it don't always have grand connections with unlimited bandwidth, y'know? Physical media will continue to thrive as long as downloading stuff isn't equally instant, and even long after that, what with the human condition regarding possessions.

[SLUSHIE @ Jan 8th 2008 1:54AM]

The next PSP really should be all memory. I don't think it should have a hard drive or built in memory or anything, but it really should work like an ipod. Sony should have an online store for their games and movies and whatever that users can download to their PC or PS3.

If it came with one of those new 16gb memory sticks, I would be happy with that.

[Justin @ Jan 8th 2008 1:58AM]

Ooh that'd be nice.. like an itunes store for the PSP except with games... but they might take a while to download though...

the 16GB memory stick is really expensive thoughh.. like super expensive no joke.

[omf @ Jan 8th 2008 1:59AM]

How do you keep the games long-term, though? You'd run out of space pretty fast, even with a 16GB MS.

I guess you could store them on your home computer. They'd have to provide a UMD reader for backward compatibility. (Ok, they wouldn't *have* to...)

[Darkest Daze @ Jan 8th 2008 2:02AM]

And for us that would rather buy physical games, they should use memory sticks with a write-protected game area and a small area for save data. Would make much more sense than optical media for a portable system.

[omf @ Jan 8th 2008 2:03AM]

I think the problem is that it's still much more expensive to distribute on flash, even at today's prices, than UMD. Maybe in a couple of years... but I don't want to wait that long for a new PSP!

[jamma @ Jan 8th 2008 3:28AM]

Be realistic: UMDs take up 1.8GB of memory. so for most PSP users on a maximum 4mbps internet connection, it would take a while for one game.

Then storing games would be tricky, because you either pay an extra $300 for 16GB, or $100 for 8GB (it can be found), but what happens when you go on holiday and want your entire game collection but not your laptop?

UMDs, however flawed they may be, are the best possible format for the PSP at the moment, so get used to it

[Chris Salguero @ Jan 8th 2008 2:17AM]

I personally like having a UMD copy of my Movies, it's great whenever I go on Roadtrips. It puts me into a nice little zone just for myself where I can laugh out loud and ignore all the morons that exist in the world (ie. HD-DVD Supporters and Republicans)

[Blake Bowen @ Jan 8th 2008 2:30AM]

Blu-ray, HD-dvd, UMD, they're all equally inconvenient. Just put all your movies on your hard drive and be done with it.

[Jared @ Jan 8th 2008 12:32PM]

F*** you. Why do you (along with a few others) insist on insulting people who read this site just because you don't share the same views on a topic completely unrelated to the purpose of this website. It's getting old and tired. Just go vote for your Democratic Socialist overlords and leave your political views where they belong -- up your a$$.

[Miles @ Jan 8th 2008 2:25AM]

The only good thing UMD did was provide a cheap, and large storage for games on the PSP.
Either way I still just rip my frequently played games to my memory stick to play them.

[Ypoknons @ Jan 8th 2008 2:35AM]

They do, actually, have a Playstation store and you can download games. You'd probably at least want a 4GB MS Duo for your PSP anyways, they're like $40. At least watch movies or something, the PSP has a great screen.

[Valgas @ Jan 8th 2008 2:59AM]

Imagine. The next PSP using "BRUMD" . I got a chubby..

[Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 8th 2008 3:01AM]

I think the big thing about the next PSP will be a hard drive. I'm pretty sure that's what they're going to do, as a lot of people asked for it. They will probably stick with UMD and also simultaneously release games on the PlayStation Store so that it's the consumer's choice as to which one they want.

That's the ideal future for the next PSP.

[SLUSHIE @ Jan 8th 2008 3:24AM]

It will also be twice the size...

[Ed @ Jan 8th 2008 3:24AM]

UMD is not a failure at all. One needs to ask if it ever designed to SUCCEED or FAIL in the first place.

UMD is for the PSP only. Since Sony, being the total fascist control freak that it is, decided to never sell any blank UMD's or burners, the UMD as a format was crippled in the first place. I could only conclude that it was not designed as an alternative to CD or DVD burning, and could never be considered competition to portable storage for any market.

I never even understood why they tried to sell movies on it at all. However, as a medium to sell video games it performed quite well. Still does. As long as PSP sales are good, and developers still develop games for the platform, there has to be UMD as an option.

Of course, I only use a UMD one time anyways. After I rip it back to my PC and put it on a memory stick, the UMD goes into a bookshelf :)

[Craysh @ Jan 9th 2008 9:49PM]

You're right. I said the moment they announced the UMD format that if they didn't offer blanks it'd never take off.

[Laron @ Jan 8th 2008 3:59AM]

UM..what?

[batfastad @ Jan 8th 2008 4:41AM]

I don't get this.
So what else should Sony have used instead of UMD for the PSP?

Cartridges... expensive for large capacities

DVDs... too large

8cm DVDs... same size and capacity as UMD, but without protective casing

Hi-MD discs... could have worked, but too slow for read access and Sony probably would have been criticised for not letting MD die.

Download service... download games to mem stick. Probably would only be able to download from your home computer. Increased risk of software piracy vs UMD. Takes time. Although I think you can now download PSP games from the internet to Memory Stick legally from the PSN store.
But if you're in an airport and want to buy a game for a long flight, I don't think many people would be willing to pay airport hotspot prices, then have their PSP caning the battery by downloading a 200MB-1.3GB game over WiFi!

Damn Sony and their proprietory technology... Ahem Nintendo NES/SNES/Famicom/N64/GB/GBA/GBA SP/GameCube/DS cartridges?

Face it, portable games usually come on proprietory discs (apart from the GP32X or whatever it is).

What I don't get is why there was no way to hook the PSP up to the PS2 and let your PS2 rip a DVD to your PSP. That would have made lots of sense! But I guess there was no centralised firmware updating going on for the PS2 to add features like that.

Just interested to know what the author proposed as an alternative media to be able to purchase games on?

[Miles @ Jan 8th 2008 4:57AM]

Maybe because the PSP was released like 5 years after the Ps2?

[batfastad @ Jan 8th 2008 5:03AM]

Maybe?
Definitely!

And like I said... features like that could not be added to the PS2 after release because there was no central firmware update system. Whereas there's always new features / bloatware added to PSP and PS3 through firmware updates.

I had the PS2 Linux kit for a while, and ripping DVDs was possible although it did take a little longer than with the PC I had at the time.

[Nate @ Jan 8th 2008 7:52AM]

we still have UMD because they hold games, and not everyone has a PS3 or a Blu-Ray player...

[packetsniffer @ Jan 8th 2008 8:26AM]

"Sure, UMD may be useful for those who don't have a PS3 and want to get the portable movie fix"
What?

[ictiosapiens @ Jan 8th 2008 8:49AM]

@ Badfastad:

Very simple, Read Only 2 GB Memory stick duos... They've been very cheap for quite a while now...

[caramelzappa @ Jan 8th 2008 10:24AM]

The online store idea is nice, but I don't know if sony would go for it. The umd format has one thing going for it: Piracy. No one can burn a umd, except for sony.

[CosterMonger @ Jan 8th 2008 11:24AM]

I bought a 4GB MSPD on Boxing Day for $40 CAD and I'm loving it.

UMD movies are dead to me.

[akatsuki @ Jan 8th 2008 12:04PM]

The PSP needs a hard drive, and needs it now. They could easily have the best PMP out there if they would just be aggressive in their product development, but sadly, like everything Sony puts out nowadays, they just go far enough to get something out.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jan 8th 2008 12:09PM]

The only way for Sony to keep making money off of UMD's is to come out with UMD-R and a proprietary burner, that would revitalize sales int he format and give people a little bit more freedom. Hey the next PSP isn't going to use UMDs at all so there's really no point in not releasing a burner.