Sony PSP Digital Reader Service

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

PSP screen too small? It has one of the largest screens of all mobile gaming devices, past and present.

However, a PSP only interests me for media, and not gaming, but for that I already have my N800.

Heh, it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? Compared to mobile gaming or phones it's a large screen. Compared to a tv screen, it's tiny!

[Hellmark]

Oh yeah, but you're viewing it much closer than a TV. You're not attempting to use it from across the room now, are ya?

[Kostas]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

I'm not really a video game player, so my perspective on this is probably not very typical, but all in all, the PSP I got was a real disappointment for me. It's hard to find cheap and fun simple games that I can just pick up and play...

Some cheap and fun simple psp games (imho):

Go! Sudoku
Wipeout
SSX
Mercury
Lemmings
Simpsons
Scrabble
Hot Brain
Pipemania

Most of them available < $20

Originally Posted by Hellmark

PSP screen too small? It has one of the largest screens of all mobile gaming devices, past and present.

Actually the largest one, AFAIK.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

I'm not really a video game player, so my perspective on this is probably not very typical, but all in all, the PSP I got was a real disappointment for me. It's hard to find cheap and fun simple games that I can just pick up and play, the battery life is not great, the user interface is not real pleasant, the screen is pretty small for video games, the controller doesn't always react consistently, and the disk is constantly spinning even within a single game so there's a lot of waiting.

However, if I can read for at least a few hours a day on a PSP (which is probably the most I will have time to read now even on a day of heavy reading), and if the screen doesn't cause too much eye strain, it might be fun to read on the device. For true gamers that carry around a PSP, it might be really nice to be able to read on it. The screen has to be much better for reading than almost any phone.

But eventually, I'd like to see e-book reading as a default generic function included with any mobile electronic device with a screen. Just like cell phones always have an alarm clock and a camera now by default.

now don't get me wrong, my psp sits in a drawer for 90% of the year. but I use it sometimes. so I'm gonna refute a few things you said. but it is a great multimedia device.. the first of its kind really. and it does alot of things,

almost all psp games are pick up and play, and run from 10-40 bucks.(go get lumines) Though they arent that great, though PS1 Emulated games means you can get all the greats from ps1 on the psp, and of the top 10 games that can be played on the psp, I would say 7 of them are ps1 games using the pops emulator. psp games are just crappy, devs don't believe in it, they don't invest in it. the DS gets better games, For a portable device the screen is Huge, and it's the same as about a 15 inch monitor from a couple of feet away. its plenty big enough, thouhg a few games use a size 6 font for some reason, and that is hard to read, not many. like I said, crappy game development. if anything games have no staying power. they are very simple to pick up and play, they are just as easy to put down unfortunately.

on the psp slims, the batterylife is great. I think I stretched it to over 7 hours, that's all day gaming. and the new psps get even better batterylife. though I've never used a psp 3000.

the UI is easier than every other UI out there.

Use isos and cfw and you don't have to worry about the disk spinning, though that isn't a real problem, that's what the system is. it uses umds, people know that when they buy it.

the controls work perfectly, though some units arent good, out of the 15 or so psps that I've held, maybe 3 of them had a weak button somewhere that you had to press extra hard, its mostly a problem with the old phats.

and as for wanting books on everything
all smart phones can read ebooks btw, as well as ipods, and even my digital camera can read txt files. that time is here. go buy a smart phone. they call dumb phones, dumb phones for a reason, they have minimal functionality besides calling. but every dumb phone I've picked up recently has a web browser, and a txt reader.
look at this thread I made a while back
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ghlight=ebooks

[sirhunter2010]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

almost all psp games are pick up and play, and run from 10-40 bucks.(go get lumines) Though they arent that great, though PS1 Emulated games means you can get all the greats from ps1 on the psp, and of the top 10 games that can be played on the psp, I would say 7 of them are ps1 games using the pops emulator. psp games are just crappy, devs don't believe in it, they don't invest in it. the DS gets better games, For a portable device the screen is Huge, and it's the same as about a 15 inch monitor from a couple of feet away. its plenty big enough, thouhg a few games use a size 6 font for some reason, and that is hard to read, not many. like I said, crappy game development. if anything games have no staying power. they are very simple to pick up and play, they are just as easy to put down unfortunately.

Nothing personal here mate but you've not a bloody clue what you're talking about when it comes to PSP game offerings. I personally own 4 PSP consoles and 95 UMD based games and I'm a member of the Sony Gamer Advisory Panel and I can tell you that the DS does NOT get better games nor have the devs stopped believing in it. The only problem that the PSP has experienced since it's release is a significant lack of marketing muscle on the part of Sony - Sony couldn't bloody market free beer. As per the stats on Metacritic - 66 games for the PSP a aggregate rating of 80 percent or better and NOT one of those games is a PS1 game. Even with the DS selling twice the number of consoles, on a world wide scale, the DS has only 16 more games rated 80 percent or above. BTW, Sony has only managed to sell 51.6 MILLION PSP units to date. Enough said.

In terms of the PSP being a good reader, absolutely! The screen is bloody gorgeous on the PSP. I defy you to find another device at the same price point as the PSP that does so many things as well as the PSP does them.

[acastillo]

Originally Posted by sirhunter2010

The only problem that the PSP has experienced since it's release is a significant lack of marketing muscle on the part of Sony - Sony couldn't bloody market free beer.

As a very recent investor in Sony (SNE), I, too, have noticed that Sony appears to have lackluster marketing muscle, at least in the gaming industry.

Although they have very good products that offer advantages over Nintendo and XBOX, Sony does not have as great a market share. My belief is because of its lack of marketing.

So your comment that "Sony couldn't bloody market free beer" struck home. My guess is that Sony is marketing the free beer to Oprah's women's book clubs instead of going to the nearest football stadium.

Come on Sony, get out the right message to the right consumer groups!

[corinthian]

My bank rewarded me with a PSP a year ago and it's now my main ebook reader (having moved up from mobile phones and PDAs). I've got an MS Word macro set up for the PSP's screen size that does all the formatting hard work, then I print to PDF. I'm using Bookr v8.1, which opens txt, pdf, djvu, fb2, and rtf files.

I've found that it's easier on the eyes if I use a black background and light grey fonts. Battery life is fairly good as you can set the CPU speed from within the program, and all the buttons are customizable.

Reading in direct sunlight is completely out of the question, but on the other hand I can read at night with the lights off and not bother my better half

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by sirhunter2010

Nothing personal here mate but you've not a bloody clue what you're talking about when it comes to PSP game offerings. I personally own 4 PSP consoles and 95 UMD based games and I'm a member of the Sony Gamer Advisory Panel and I can tell you that the DS does NOT get better games nor have the devs stopped believing in it. The only problem that the PSP has experienced since it's release is a significant lack of marketing muscle on the part of Sony - Sony couldn't bloody market free beer. As per the stats on Metacritic - 66 games for the PSP a aggregate rating of 80 percent or better and NOT one of those games is a PS1 game. Even with the DS selling twice the number of consoles, on a world wide scale, the DS has only 16 more games rated 80 percent or above. BTW, Sony has only managed to sell 51.6 MILLION PSP units to date. Enough said.

In terms of the PSP being a good reader, absolutely! The screen is bloody gorgeous on the PSP. I defy you to find another device at the same price point as the PSP that does so many things as well as the PSP does them.

I'm sorry that I misspoke. I like RPG games and a Light puzzle game on occasion. the RPG devs have pretty much given up on the PSP. I like the immersive game play that only RPGs can offer, so when I say all psp games are pick up and play. that was a put down in my opinion

as you can see here:
http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?t...c&official=all
only 1 psp RPG breaks a score of 9.0, and all games over 8.0 are action RPGs. so in almost 5 years, there are a grand total of 11 rpgs with a gamer score of 7 or better. and I disagree with a few of those too

as far as rpgs go, the DS wins, 35 rpgs over a score of 7.0
http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?p...e&sortdir=asc#

the PSPs good games are in the action games that don't appeal to me.

the psp gets some good games, but none that leave the impression on the user that some other consoles get, like ps1, or ps2!

and all the great rpgs are being developed for the xbox 360 now. with ps3 getting very few exclusive rpgs compared to the 360.

[Kostas]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

as you can see here:
http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?t...c&official=all
only 1 psp RPG breaks a score of 9.0, and all games over 8.0 are action RPGs. so in almost 5 years, there are a grand total of 11 rpgs with a gamer score of 7 or better. and I disagree with a few of those too

as far as rpgs go, the DS wins, 35 rpgs over a score of 7.0
http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?p...e&sortdir=asc#

Still, gamer's experience on the huge PSP screen (vs. DS) is incomparable imho.

[rguion]

I have a read a few books on the PSP. I converted them using a program called PSP ebook creator (txt to JPEG).

The pluses are, as others said, the screen is great, especially the PSP-3000 and I suspect, the upcoming PSP Go. 3 levels of brightness, you can read during the day or in bed with the lights off.

However, I got tired after a while. The JPEG method didn't allow you to save bookmarks. You can't change font size on the fly--you would have to regenerate the entire book. The glare from the screen at night gave my eyes trouble after a while.

If Sony could offer software to provide bookmarks and font changing capabilities, they might have something great for the PSP. Hopefully it would be as flexible as the Sony Reader. Maybe Calibre would support it!

If you are interested, I wrote an article about converting ebooks for the Sony PSP here. I used Cory Doctorow's Little Brother in my tutorial:

Sony PSP an an EBook Reader

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by rguion

I have a read a few books on the PSP. I converted them using a program called PSP ebook creator (txt to JPEG).

The pluses are, as others said, the screen is great, especially the PSP-3000 and I suspect, the upcoming PSP Go. 3 levels of brightness, you can read during the day or in bed with the lights off.

However, I got tired after a while. The JPEG method didn't allow you to save bookmarks. You can't change font size on the fly--you would have to regenerate the entire book. The glare from the screen at night gave my eyes trouble after a while.

If Sony could offer software to provide bookmarks and font changing capabilities, they might have something great for the PSP. Hopefully it would be as flexible as the Sony Reader. Maybe Calibre would support it!

If you are interested, I wrote an article about converting ebooks for the Sony PSP here. I used Cory Doctorow's Little Brother in my tutorial:

Sony PSP an an EBook Reader

Ack! Seriously, if your PSP is capable of running homebrew, go and install Bookr. Much, much, much nicer reading experience than using the built-in image viewer or web browser. You get bookmarks, custom fonts, font size changing, dynamic zoom (PDF) and controls are customizable. Since files are much smaller (native text, pdf, etc), you can also store a whole lot of books on your memory stick than if using images. Heck, Sony would do well to pattern their reading software for the PSP after Bookr. The only reason I stopped using Bookr is because Calibre+Stanza made it so much easier to copy content to and read on the iPhone even while on the go. One problem I've had with PSP+Bookr, aside from the ebook/pdf preparation, is I sometimes don't have time to copy newly prepared ebooks onto the memory stick. With the iPhone, I can download files from my Calibre library as long as I have at least EDGE service. Battery on the iPhone isn't as good as the PSP, though. I get pretty long battery life on the PSP since I underclock the CPU to 50MHz when using Bookr and reading at night, brightness is usually at the lowest level.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by Kostas

Still, gamer's experience on the huge PSP screen (vs. DS) is incomparable imho.

Psp screen and graphics win big time. but talking about this. I just found this top 10 list on gamefaqs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/top10/1944.html

Graphics don't seem to matter in the hand held market. hell even on TVs Wii outsells ps3 and the 360

After the partial failure that was Nintendo's GameCube, the Game Boy Advance system nearly single-handedly kept Nintendo alive. Sony, smelling blood, went in for the kill by designing and releasing their own handheld: the PlayStation Portable, PSP for short. Technically superior to the DS in nearly every way, the PSP looked like it would certainly be the final nail in Nintendo's coffin. It had a dual processor and excellent graphics card; internal and expandable permanent storage; an enormous, bright screen; Wi-Fi capabilities; an extremely innovative flat joystick; and, perhaps most notable, doubles as both an music player and movie player. Its movie-playing capabilities were especially praised and were supported by many film companies. Things didn't look good for Nintendo, until the same reverse from the seventh console generation hit the fifth handheld generation. Sony released a technically superior product that would satisfy any hardcore gamer willing to shell out $250 for it -- an audience that was much, much smaller than they anticipated. Going head to head against the Nintendo DS, a console which sold for $100 cheaper, was targeted to the casual gamer, and featured a much more unique cornerstone feature, the PSP comparatively flopped. That's not entirely fair -- the PSP was actually a significant success, outselling the next-best non-Nintendo handheld (Sega's Game Gear) five times over and ranking as the #7 best-selling system of all time with 55 million units sold. However, compared to the Nintendo DS's sales (which doubled those of the PSP), it was not exactly successful. Despite its technical superiority, the PSP was largely undone by the DS's innovation and marketing strategy, the relative clunkiness of its movie and music playing functionality (who wants a 10-ounce music player or a movie player they have to hold up in the air or stare down at on a table?), and its high price tag. All this is a very round-about way to say that although Sony released a handheld console and it sold 55 million copies, Nintendo still owns all ten spots on this list. In fact, the DS owns the top 12 spots, 20 of the top 21, and 27 of the top 30 slots (Lumines, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City and Valkyrie Profile break those three chains, in that order at #13, #22 and #30). But, what exactly those ten DS games are might surprise you...

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

Anything to get people reading more. Unfortunately, I don't think this will fare well.

It will fare well with our family, since we already have three.

Small backlit readers for use in the tent on camping trips.

[Kostas]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

Psp screen and graphics win big time. but talking about this. I just found this top 10 list on gamefaqs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/top10/1944.html

Graphics don't seem to matter in the hand held market. hell even on TVs Wii outsells ps3 and the 360

Despite its technical superiority, the PSP was largely undone by the DS's innovation

Quite true! Nintendo introduced very attractive and user friendly innovations with DS and Wii + Sony products (PSP & PS3) were/are much too expensive.
I own all these devices (DS / PSP, Wii / PS3) and really enjoy them for different purposes. e.g. on an airplane my PSP is irreplaceable as I can also watch videos.
Major Sony's failure was PS3: 25 mi units sold vs. 135 mi for PS2 and 52 for Wii. Sony is launching a cheaper PS3, but it's probably too late.
As for top games, I am a little skeptical about this kind of lists.
On this one (all-platforms) of curent top100 there are 2 PSP games (2 & 7) and 2 DS (4 & 10) in the top10. Both DS games are pokemon, proprietary Nintendo not available to other manufacturers.
On this one (all-platforms too) the first PSP entry (21) appears before the first DS entry (27).

[exreader]

Looks like the "PS3 Slim" for $300 will be out this Friday. If nothing else, it's a good BLU-RAY player and there's about 5 games total on the market I'd want to try out (that are basically exclusive) - why buy again if I've had them on Xbox-360 for years?

The only failing of the XB was not the wrong Hi-Def movie format. Cries a lot

ALSO to keep on Topic Sony will be releasing a RAM based PSP-GO unit. Losing the spinny UMDs, it'll be something like 40% the weight, and looks like a revamped Tapwave Zodiac (to me anyway). Hot. They claim it's not a replacement for the PDP-3000 (UMD) but we'll see. Since it's RAM based, and lighter, it should make a dandy reader, and potentially (if it has WIFI - don't know all the specs), a possibly useful netbook/surfer.


exReader