The Sony PlayStation Portable ( PSP ) is a versatile system . Unlike its competitor , Nintendo DS , the PSP hardware can also act as a medicine thespian , Web web internet browser , motion picture instrumentalist , digital picture record album , and more . Now Mark / Space has made the PSP even beneficial for Mac users by offering a interlingual rendition of its Missing Sync software system ( ) .
usefulness design to synchronise data between the Mac and the PSP are nothing new — they’ve been around almost since the PSP first went on sale in Japan in tardy 2004 . And technically , no software program is needed to transfer data point between a PSP and your Mac , as long as you have a USB cable television and the patience to figure out what goes where . But The Missing Sync excels in ease of use , easiness of innovation , and robustness of feature .
If you ’re familiar with the Palm or PocketPC interlingual rendition of the Missing Sync , the interface reckon pretty much the same — it ’s a single window that lean the figure of hack - in that provide various capabilities such as backing up game files or transferring and convert television . you’re able to customize the depicted object of The Missing Sync ’s toolbar with your own frequently used features . Double chatter on each of the cud - ins output specific setting ( such as how many backups you want to keep , or which folders you ’d like to reassign from your Mac ’s Finder to the PSP ) .
DV friendly
Many PSP users wish to watch digital video recording on their wide filmdom , and The Missing Sync does n’t let down — it includes a video conversion usefulness that takes files on your Mac and convert them to a more PSP - friendly size of it and data format ( as long they ’re not encrypted with copy tribute ) . It works effectively and comparatively quickly . For example , a 23 - minute - long episode of one of my preferred animated serial , originally in MPEG-4 format for watching on my reckoner , took about 15 minute or so to convert on my Dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 .
The Missing Sync also lets you synchronize iPhoto albums and iTunes playlists by double - penetrate their respective hoopla - ins . The computer software simply reads playlist / depository library or photo record album information and asks you to pick out what you ’d like to synchronise . It wo n’t copy code euphony from iTunes , such as songs you ’ve bought through the iTunes Music Store . You ’ll name this if you centre over the helpful sync history logarithm , but I ’d favour a down - up window to say , “ Hey , brilliance , you ’re not permit to copy that file here . ”
Apple integration
Where The Missing Sync simply blows away other Mac PSP sync software is its integrating with Apple ’s build - in applications like Address Book and iCal . The Missing Sync takes capacity from those applications and change over them to Web pages , uploads the pages to the PSP ’s Memory Stick , and bookmarks their location in the PSP ’s progress - in Web internet browser . The resultant role is that you’re able to keep track of your calendar , contacts ( let in exposure ) , to - do list , and notes on your PSP . Nullriver Software’sPSPWare , for example , only does contact syncing ; Information Appliance Associates’PocketMac for PSP , also does tangency syncing , but saves the impinging info as in writing images , not as vane pages . And RnSK Softronics’iPSPdoesn’t do contact syncing .
It ’s still a one - way system of rules , sort of like using your iPod to sync with your Mac — there ’s no way to edit link or make fresh appointments , then synchronize them back to your computing machine — but it ’s a slick apparatus . you may even customise the presentation of that content by selecting different themes ( you may look at thumbnail of these themes in the Preferences window ) .
Mark / Space includes a specialized Mac software called Notebook that lets you produce note that can turn back text , audio , or art . you may keep track of these files by category and view them on the PSP using its connection web browser . Very handy , but I ’m not certain I need yet another notebook program — there are already many third - party notebook apps on the Mac program .
Offline Web browsing
If you want to keep a uniform set of Web web internet browser bookmarks , The Missing Sync will support bookmarker synchronise with Safari . The Missing Sync also includes a feature call WebSnacks , which download snippets of World Wide Web website from your Mac and transfers them to the PSP , so you could check intelligence or read your favourite entanglement comics from your PSP while you ’re on the train or the bus , without requiring a lively Wi - Fi connection . A configurations window let you create link you ’d like WebSnacks to grab each clip it synchronize with the PSP — you’re able to describe championship , verbal description , URL , depth ( how many levels down from that URL you ’d like it to catch ) , whether to include range of a function , whether to include external link , and frequence .
System requirements take Mac OS X 10.4.6 or later and a PSP with microcode 2.7.1 or higher — that means that some PSP owners who want to trifle “ homebrew ” games ( made by programmer who are n’t officially licensed to create titles for the PSP ) will be out of luck . And it ’s a Universal Binary for Intel - based Macs , which means it ’s very tight .
Macworld’s buying advice
Mark / Space has hit a home running with The Missing Sync for PSP 1.0.2 . It can turn your already versatile PlayStation Portable into a full - shove along multimedia center and personal selective information assistant . There are a few flaws , but they ’re more inconveniences than serious trouble .
[ Peter Cohen is a fourth-year editor in chief atMacworld . ]
