It plays medicine . It displays photos . Oh , and you could watch TV on it , too . No , it ’s not the newly unveiledvideo iPod — this is the Sony PlayStation Portable . And while the PSP has a very different core procedure — it ’s a portable video game console table , first and foremost — there are enough similarities between it and the latest round of iPods to merit a side - by - side comparison .
Big and little
Let ’s start with the differences between the PSP and the iPod , the most obvious one being the size of it of both of the social unit and of the screen . Apple ’s newest iPods are quite slender and quite light compared to previous white iPods , measuring 4.1 - by-2.4 - by-0.43 inches . ( The 60 GB model is .12 in thicker than its 30 GB counterpart . )
This compare to 6.7 - by-0.9 - by-2.9 inches for the PSP , which weighs more than half a pound . That ’s gravid enough to make it unwiedly to hold fast the PSP anywhere but in a bag or an oversized jacket or coat pocket . The PSP comes with a sleeve to protect it from habiliment and tear . ( For my PSP , I opted for a bulkier , but better protected , toilsome sheath made by a third party . )
The iPod has a 2.5 - inch screenland that ’s limit to 320 - by-240 - pixel video and thousands of colors . There ’s been some early criticism aimed at Apple for making the screen too modest , but kinfolk who havegotten their hand on the novel iPodsay it ’s not too bad .
By comparison , the PSP has a 4.3 - inch screen that displays a widescreen format of 480 - by-272 pixels in meg of people of color . It ’s a resplendency to behold — terrific for play games and catch movies and videos . There have been some reports of dead pixels on the PSP ’s filmdom , but I have n’t had any problem with mine , a received production unit that I ’ve had since the day the devices first became available in North America .
The iPod has enormous amounts of storage capacity — up to 60 GB , which is good for 150 hours of TV capacity storage , based on Apple ’s spec ( H.264 telecasting at 320 - by-240 pixels and 30 frame per second ) .
The PSP , meanwhile can only store as much as the Memory Stick Duo flash media poster can entertain — up to 2 gigabyte , if you could notice a 2 GB marijuana cigarette in line of descent . And you ’re sharing that distance with saved secret plan files and any other content you like to hive away . ( you could also find out video using Sony ’s proprietary Universal Media Disc formatting . )
The PSP offers enough room in practice for you to stash away two or three heavily compressed feature film - length movies onto the PSP or a few hours of TV show . It ’s not like carrying your integral DVD collection around with you , but it ’s certainly enough for a commute or two — presuming you desire to regularly reload your PSP with new television content .
Connecting and sharing
Both equipment connect to a Mac using USB 2.0 . The PSP bear witness up on the Mac as a people storage machine — the same as if you had stuck the PSP ’s memory stick into a placard lector .
This signify that you do n’t need any extra computer software to colligate the PSP to your Mac , although pilot Sony ’s bizarre directory structure in lookup of a piazza to put your euphony , movies , and television can be scare . That ’s why several shareware software and third political party software have pop up to simplify the process .
The iPod also have tight integration withiTunesand the iTunes Music Store , and that is a huge advantage for users who do n’t want to have to toy with other software system to get telecasting onto their iPods . you’re able to buy idiot box shows and euphony videos for $ 1.99 and have the same experience syncing telecasting on your iPod as you do with music . Obviously it takes a piece longer because of the file sizing , but the experience itself is a pretty conversant one .
And the iTunes Music Store cognitive content is , like its music , protect by Apple ’s FairPlay Digital Rights Management ( DRM ) applied science . That think it ’s only playable on the iPod — you ca n’t download a transcript of thatDesperate Housewivesvideo to your PSP and expect it to play .
By comparison , getting idiot box show to your PSP is more of a hassle . First of all , you ’ll want a PVR like Elgato ’s EyeTV or some alike computer hardware to in reality becharm the show . Then you ’ll require to convert the video recording to a Indian file format that make sense for the PSP , and transfer it on to the PSP .
Kinoma Producer , iPSP , PSPWare , Toast 7 Titanium , and EyeTV all turn back the naked ability to get this done , and I ’ve had motley degrees of success with each of them . The video conversion process is n’t flawless — I ’ve see the lotion I ’ve work with clank and burn inexplicably , popping up uncongenial misplay messages and flush it to transfer file . Then again , it has n’t all gone wrong — I ’ve gotten television reassign over to my PSP , and when it works , it works large .
A QuickTime 7.0.3 update extend to begin with this workweek also provide QuickTime Pro substance abuser with a new “ Movie to iPod ” exportation feature of speech , so this selection is open to iPod users as well . How many people are willing to take advantage of either process is anyone ’s dead reckoning , though .
A v2.50 system software update for the PSP write by Sony sooner this calendar week bring home the bacon a huge hike to the arrangement ’s video - friendliness . It add LocationFree Player , a software software that exploit in alignment with a Sony peripheral call the LocationFree Base Station . This product pelt video from your TV , DVD or DVR to your PSP . It works via a menage Wi - Fi connection , and can also act upon over the net — so you’re able to stream telecasting to your PSP from home while you ’re on the route , too .
Battery life sentence
Perhaps one of the most blazing differences between the two systems is that of assault and battery lifetime . Sony was strongly criticized for overstating the PSP ’s electric battery life history , which is still an issue of disputation in some round . Making the PSP ’s UMD drive spin up and down and using the Wi - Fi connexion to browse the Web and dally multiplayer game seem to be the biggest drainpipe on great power .
My own experience has been that playing TV back from a UMD set a pretty heavy load on the PSP ’s battery , since it ’s always spinning — about three hours or so , maybe a bit longer . play TV from a Memory Stick Duo does n’t seem to drain it as naughtily , since there are no move parts . That compares to Apple ’s estimate of two minute of battery biography for picture playback for the 30 GB iPod — that ’s regretful . That ’s not even a commute for some of us taking people theodolite in from the more distant suburbs .
Another compass point in the PSP ’s favor — the battery is obliterable . So if you find that you ’re running low on juice , you’re able to pop off the back panel and put in a new one that you ’ve charged the night before . Some caller also trade an extraneous battery pack that gives your PSP a spot more juice , if you ’d prefer .
minimal brain dysfunction - ons
The iPod emphatically has the bound when it comes to computer peripheral that go along with your portable equipment . There ’s a bungalow industriousness of chargers , sorrel , adapter , carry cases , FM transmitters and other products that are plan to work on specifically with the iPod . Some of them already act with the new fifth - generation iPod exemplar , and many more are in the works that will .
There is n’t the same breadth or depth of peripherals that go along with the PSP , but it ’s a product that ’s been on the food market for the upright part of a twelvemonth now in Japan , and it has n’t undergone the changes in form gene that the iPod has — so there ’s a steady supply of products that you’re able to buy that will work .
What ’s more , some of the same companies that make iPod products have designed some of them to operate with the PSP too — At this past summer ’s Macworld Expo in Boston , for example , DLO showcased itsTranspod for the iPod shamble — which sport an adjunct mini jack - free-base input — channelise audio from a PSP to a nearby car radio receiver .
In shut down
Both of these devices rein their own various roosts . The PSP is the better - rounded portable entertainment arrangement . It has a larger and better screen , cyberspace entree and web browse through Wi - Fi . The support of various movie studio who are now bring out content for it on UMD discs is a great draw poker . LocationFree Player is a prissy hint , if you ’re unforced to invest in Sony ’s LocationFree Base Stations . The PSP is also $ 50 tawdry than the 30 GB iPod .
The iPod is smaller and lighter and can hold a mess more content , too . But perhaps the most important agent in the iPod ’s favour is a content deliverance system through the iTunes Music Store that makes it a lead pipe breeze to get video onto your iPod .
subject matter deliver is the key factor leave out from the PSP ’s par that ’s likely to classify it to the domain of gamers , video partizan and tweakers for the foreseeable future tense . At least until the usefulness developers who are working on PSP connectivity for the Mac can make it as bulletproof as what we ’ve come to bear for Mac software to be .
