You have your shiny, new Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) but you don’t know what to do with it other than to play games and UMD movies. With a decent sized Memory Stick Pro Duo, you can store lots of music files, photos and even videos for playback on the device. The problem is how you would go about managing all those media files.
Now I was lucky enough to snag a 512MB Memory Stick Pro Duo during the holidays and I was ready to transfer anything and everything I could find on my hard drive onto my PSP. If you’ve ever used the device, you’re probably aware that the ability to transfer files to the PSP is as easy as dragging and dropping files into their specified location on the device except for video files. Video files required more than just the dragging the file to the PSP. You had to properly name it and have an accompanying information file go along with it so the PSP could recognize it. Oh and it had to be in MPEG4 video format as well.
Managing files on the PSP was far more exhausting than it should have been. Thankfully, Sony Media Software released the PSP Media Manager to help with the process and here’s what I found out about it.
Help Is On The Way
You should know that the PSP Media Manager works only in Windows XP. The lack of support for other versions of Windows was a little disappointing but it is something you should take into consideration.
Once you have connected your PSP to your computer using a USB type A to mini B cable, set the PSP to USB mode and launch the PSP Media Manager program, you will be prompted to create a name for your PSP. After doing that, you will then be brought to the PSP Media Manager interface where you will find the current disk space remaining on your memory stick displayed in the upper left portion of the window.
Across from that, you will find the toolbar that provides easy access to your various media files (Photos, Music, Video, CD, Feeds, Game, Backup and Settings) found at your specified location on your computer. The program defaults to the My Documents folder where it creates a PSP Backup folder. You can add additional folders to the list of locations for the program to search for media files. The display window is split into an upper/lower display where the upper displays your computer’s files and the lower displays the PSP’s files.
Now let’s go through each section of the toolbar so you have a better idea how the interface works. The Photos section provides you with the ability to transfer, preview, add folders and remove folders. You can either drag files to your PSP or you can just highlight the file(s) you want and click the transfer button. The PSP Media Manager will put the photos in their proper location on the PSP.
The Music feature is a pretty straightforward file management. You can select the files it finds in your specified folder and just click the transfer button. The default encoding setting is selected in the window but you can select a different mode there or just change the default setting in Settings. I was surprised to find that the CD cover doesn’t display in the Media Manager like it does on the PSP itself. If you double click the music file, your computer’s default music player will launch to play the file. The Videos feature is similar to the others in which you’re just one click away from transferring various video files to your PSP. The Media Manager supports .mp4, .avi, .mpg, .mov, .wmv and more.
The CD feature is designed to provide audio CD ripping capabilities and it just couldn’t be easier. Select the track you want, then click on the extract button. You will have to find the ripped track in your music folder so you will have to switch back to the Media Manager’s music feature so you can upload the file.
The Setup feature in the toolbar provides a number of options that you can specify from networking to the default audio and video encoding options. In Settings, you can also specify if and when you want your feeds updated, set Media Manager to backup after every connection, audio/video/photo/cd extraction target quality and Gracenote CD lookup.
The Final Word
I found that Sony Media’s PSP Media Manager maintains my PSP files in a nice, organized manner. The toolbar at the top of the main window provides easy access to your files. You can choose from Photos, Music, Video, CD, Feeds, Game, Backup and Settings. You have to watch which section you have selected to make sure you’re working with the files on your PC or files on your PSP.
I like the video feature because all you have to do is select the video file from your computer and click the transfer button. It’s a very simple interface but I would have liked to have the ability to rename files. Another feature that I was surprised not to find was the ability to change the video playback size dimensions.
The audio extraction and encoding is an excellent tool. The program defaults to 128kbps encoding for audio files but you can set it to a higher quality (in the Settings feature) although the better the quality, the larger the extracted file will become. You can even do a one-click backup and even restore of all of your data on or to your PSP.
I also discovered a cool feature that if you leave your cursor over the thumbnail image, the thumbnail will expand to a larger preview of the thumbnail. You can also choose to preview the image in your chosen image viewing program. Just double click the thumbnail image and the image will then open in your specified image viewing program.
Overall I found the PSP Media Manager to be extremely useful in keeping your PSP media neatly organized. The transfer of files can be done with a single click and there is a number of options available so you can maximize the space on your memory stick pro duo. The PSP Media Manager is a great low-cost, file management necessity for your PlayStation Portable. Five star recommendation!
You can click HERE to purchase the PSP Media Manager.
The System Requirements
· Microsoft Windows XP Home, or XP Professional SP1 or later
· Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and Service Pack 1 (SP1) (included on CD-ROM)
· 1GHz processor
· 200 MB hard-disk space for program installation
· 512 MB RAM
· QuickTime 7 (for .mov, Sony AVC/AAC (.mp4), H.263, and H.264 playback)
· Windows-compatible sound card
· CD-ROM drive (for installation and CD extraction)
· USB 2.0 cable and port (for connecting to the PSP™ system) (6-foot USB cable included in packaged version)
· Internet connection (for Gracenote and software activation)
· Internet Explorer 5.0 or later (included on CD-ROM)
· PSP System Update 2.0 or later (for Sony AVC/AAC video playback on the PSP™ system). Visit www.us.playstation.com to obtain the latest system update.
About Sony PSP Media Manager
You can click HERE to learn more about Sony Media Software’s PSP Media Manager.
About Sony Media Software
Sony Media Software manages the following media creation software titles: Sound Forge software, Vegas software, CD Architect software, DVD Architect software, ACID PRO software, Sony Sound Series music and sound effects libraries, Sony Vision Series graphics, animations and stock footage libraries, Noise Reduction Plug-In, Vegas Movie Studio software, ACID Music Studio software and Sound Forge Audio Studio software.
You can visit them online at http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/.
About Don Lee
Don Lee is the Senior Technical Producer at Digital Media Online. You can find him answering questions at DMN Forums. You can also email Don at
He can be located on the internet at http://www.digitalmedianet.com and http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com.
