PSP as an MP3 player... questions for those that have it

G

God's Hand

Banned
I'm contemplating on purchasing a PSP this Thursday for MP3 and movie playback. I've asked this question before, but no one can seem to give me straightforward answers.

1. Does it come with a remote?
2. Does it support playlists, and if so, which format? (.m3u, .pls)
3. Does the screen shut off when playing MP3s? Is it on a time-out basis?
4. Does it have a visualization in case you have the PSP out?
5. Does it support album art?
6. How long does the battery last when playing just MP3s?

Thanks to anyone who can help me out!
 
1. Yes it comes with a remote and headphones. You can plug any headphone you want into the remote
2. Yes. m3u files work.
3. If you hold down the brightness button, the backlight and screen shut off.
4. I don't think so.
5. I am sure you can add your own THM file to add the album art
6. Probably ~5-6 hours.
 
5-6 hours? Hrm... That's even with the screen off? Seems odd, since it gets like 4-5 hours with the screen on during gameplay.
 
God's Hand said:
5-6 hours? Hrm... That's even with the screen off? Seems odd, since it gets like 4-5 hours with the screen on during gameplay.
Click to expand...

I think it's more up to 8 hours actually...I'm sure someone will give you a real answer soon though
 
I have no idea how long the battery lasts on music playback alone, but I can tell you there are no visualizations.
 
God's Hand said:
I'm contemplating on purchasing a PSP this Thursday for MP3 and movie playback. I've asked this question before, but no one can seem to give me straightforward answers.

1. Does it come with a remote?
2. Does it support playlists, and if so, which format? (.m3u, .pls)
3. Does the screen shut off when playing MP3s? Is it on a time-out basis?
4. Does it have a visualization in case you have the PSP out?
5. Does it support album art?
6. How long does the battery last when playing just MP3s?
Click to expand...

1. Yes but it sucks and is completely worthless imo.
2. No, but you can use folders to act as playlists.
3. Yes, time-out does that. You can also do it manually as stated above.
4. No, lame.
5. No, lame.
6. 8-10 hours easily.

The PSP is a pretty lame mp3 player imo. The sound is awesome, but the interface is a hassle and the device itself is rather large. You're better off with a dedicated MP3 player unless you also want it as a movie player and a game device and don't want to carry ANOTHER device around. In that case it works well and that's what I do, otherwise hell no. :D
 
See, I sold my iPod a month ago because it was just useless to me. All I ever did was listen to Stern (downloaded MP3 from newsgroup) in the morning on my way to work, and listen to a few songs. I had 20GB on the iPod filled, but only listened to a few tunes. So the PSP would be cool for me. Plus I've read the audio quality surpasses iPod's crappy quality. And my iPod only lasted 4-5 hours, so if PSP is 8 hours, that's great...

Still, not entirely sure yet...
 
Well I took it to work and put my MP3's on a 512 Duo I have from my camera, and it lasted the entire day roughtly 10hours with the screen off (THE REMOTE IS A GOD SEND FOR CHANGING TRACKS!) I didn't have a UMD in the drive I don't know if that effects the battery life or not.
 
Alright, I guess I got the time wrong. Oh well.

Last time I checked , and it says it in the leaked US manual,it supports m3u playlists.
 
duckroll said:
1. Yes but it sucks and is completely worthless imo.
2. No, but you can use folders to act as playlists.
3. Yes, time-out does that. You can also do it manually as stated above.
4. No, lame.
5. No, lame.
6. 8-10 hours easily.

The PSP is a pretty lame mp3 player imo. The sound is awesome, but the interface is a hassle and the device itself is rather large. You're better off with a dedicated MP3 player unless you also want it as a movie player and a game device and don't want to carry ANOTHER device around. In that case it works well and that's what I do, otherwise hell no. :D
Click to expand...

Just to suppliment your responses

2. Yes, it does support m3u playlists :)
 
the battery drains really slowly with the screen off. i haven't tried using an entire charge on mp3 playback, but if games last ~5 hrs., i bet music playback is close to 10.
 
The PSP is abit big for a MP3 player to carry around. I use once in a while driving with the remote(handy again for changing tracks with the PSP's screen off and locked). You will get more than 8 hours+ if you turn off the screen for mp3 playback.
 
duckroll said:
1. Yes but it sucks and is completely worthless imo.
2. No, but you can use folders to act as playlists.
3. Yes, time-out does that. You can also do it manually as stated above.
4. No, lame.
5. No, lame.
6. 8-10 hours easily.

The PSP is a pretty lame mp3 player imo. The sound is awesome, but the interface is a hassle and the device itself is rather large. You're better off with a dedicated MP3 player unless you also want it as a movie player and a game device and don't want to carry ANOTHER device around. In that case it works well and that's what I do, otherwise hell no. :D
Click to expand...

Actually PSP does support .m3u, and it also supports album cover art.
 
Has anyone tried using an MD remote on the PSP? The jack looks similar to those on MDs, and there were shots of PSP prototypes using one. A cheap MD remote would make a great alternative to the PSP puck.
 
aoi tsuki said:
Has anyone tried using an MD remote on the PSP? The jack looks similar to those on MDs, and there were shots of PSP prototypes using one. A cheap MD remote would make a great alternative to the PSP puck.
Click to expand...
I have a NetMD remote and it doesn't fit. The PSP's remote jack is smaller than those of MD players :-(

I hope Sony or some other 3rd party makes a better, LCD remote for the PSP.
 
Can any Ipod and PSP owners comment on sound quality? It would suck ass if the PSP had an anoying whir in the background like GBA music player.
 
it does support .m3u, but its fussy about where and when.

You have a folder on the memory stick called 'music'.

In there, put folders for each of the playlists you want. Only one folder deep, so lots of folder in 'music', but no folders in those folders (if you see what I mean)

Then put your mp3 tracks in those folders, along with the .m3u file. The .m3u needs to be simple - I found that creating the playlist in winamp then exporting it gives a format that PSP accepts.

Then in PSP you don't see the folders, you just see the playlists.

You can skip tracks with the remote, and you can skip between playlists if you go into 'group' mode. I don't know if you can go into group mode and then use the remote, or you need to use the d-pad to skip groups.

Overall you can get a pretty good mp3 experience, but it takes preparation. Like the videos.
 
acidviper said:
Can any Ipod and PSP owners comment on sound quality? It would suck ass if the PSP had an anoying whir in the background like GBA music player.
Click to expand...

I have an ipod.

PSP kicks ipod's fucking ass on sound quality. Storage is limited and UI sucks.
My cellphone kicks ipods fucking ass on sound quality. Storage is limited and the UI is good ;)
 
I guarantee that the PSP last at least 10h with MP3 playback with the screen off. I've used it many a times like this. Hell I used it for an hour from a full charge and the battery went down to 96% and said 11h left, so take from that what you will.
 
God's Hand said:
See, I sold my iPod a month ago because it was just useless to me. All I ever did was listen to Stern (downloaded MP3 from newsgroup) in the morning on my way to
Click to expand...

Uh wait... what? Check your PM.
 
CVXFREAK said:
Rather than invest in a 1GB stick to have a lot of music, just get an iPod shuffle or something instead.
Click to expand...

He's buying the 1GB stick for movie playback anyway.

Anyway, the PSP's a pretty decent MP3 player, with the only major faults being its size and fragileness. I would never take it with me to the gym, for example.
 
I posted my thoughts on this when you asked in the Offical US PSP thread. In a nut shell, in my opinion, if you are looking for a great game player that has multi-media functions, then the PSP is a must have. If you want a media player and don't care about the game play, then there are better options.
 
Miburou said:
He's buying the 1GB stick for movie playback anyway.

Anyway, the PSP's a pretty decent MP3 player, with the only major faults being its size and fragileness. I would never take it with me to the gym, for example.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know, but I think keeping the two separate would be best.

PSPs make good mp3 players, but not great ones.
 
yes the psp does support album art:

mp34.jpg


sorry for the poor picture quality.
 
is there a cap on how big of a memory card PSP can take? like for example if sony released a 5 or 10 gb card in the future, could the PSP read that?
 
What kind of album art?
Click to expand...
JPEGs embedded into the MP3 through the ID3 tag. Each MP3 can have it's own picture, and when you have folders, the picture from the first MP3 in the folder will be used as an album art for that folder.

is there a cap on how big of a memory card PSP can take? like for example if sony released a 5 or 10 gb card in the future, could the PSP read that?
Click to expand...
2GB cards are confirmed to work, that's the biggest right now. Unless they made some really stupid ommision, there's no reason why it shouldn't support any future card.

Is it possible to browse images while listening to mp3's?
Click to expand...
No.

For what it's worth, I think that's the biggest downside of PSP's user initerface. You can't listen to music while changing setting, viewing pictures or doing anything other than browsing other songs or browsing through the interface. As soon as you enter any section, music stops. Otherwise, I really like it. It's very quick, smooth and efficient.

Has anyone tried using an MD remote on the PSP?
Click to expand...
It doesn't work.

Supplied remote is certainly a bit lame, but it's much better than nothing.
 
I just realized that the PSP has gapless playback. That's seriously awesome, since most stand-alone MP3 players STILL DON'T. It's not going to replace my iPod for music, but I'm definitely going to put a few albums on my MS to take advantage of this.

Edit: I then realized that it has gapless playback because it uses flash memory. I'm a dumbass.

Two other things, though. First, PSP sounds SO MUCH BETTER than iPod that it's ridiculous. Second, the PSP's "Unique" setting is the only EQ preset I've ever liked. It's a pretty good overall boost to the audio with no real negative effects to the lows, mids or highs.
 
hey peeps, is there any reason to use atrac3 or atrac3 plus when you want music on your psp
the reason i ask is that since yesterday i've been trying to get some cd's onto my psp using sony's software bc in the manual is says psp plays back mp3 and atrac3 files

yesterday i tried using sonicstage 1.5 that came with my netMD player, and the files that it created were .omg and didn't show up when imported onto my memory stick when i tried listening to them on my psp

then this morning i downloaded sonicstage 3.0 from connect.com, with the same results
also when i connect my psp to my computer i get the message that a high speed usb device is connected to a non-high speed port...would that have anything to do with my problems

also, is it hard to and are you able to created .m3u files with free winamp, bc i'd like to listen to my cd's in their original order
or does anyone know if you can create .m3u files using musicmatch
 
Just rip your CDs to mp3 with CDex. You don't need to use playlists if you want to listen to albums in their original order. Just put all the tracks in one folder and perhaps rename the filenames so that the track number keeps them in order.

Anyway, is there any way to quickly change groups/folders using the remote?

I figured they'd implement a click then hold the fast forward/rewind buttons way of changing folders. That's the fast way of doing it on my iRiver anyway.
 
Rolio said:
then this morning i downloaded sonicstage 3.0 from connect.com, with the same results
also when i connect my psp to my computer i get the message that a high speed usb device is connected to a non-high speed port...would that have anything to do with my problems
Click to expand...

does your PC have USB 2.0???
 
^^^^^^^^
nope, no usb 2.0 port for me

hey experiment, do you know which version of sonicstage you have, and does your computer have usb 2.0?

i'm also loving the sound quality of mp3's on my psp, but if atrac3 is comparable i'd like to get them to work since they take up less space
also, how can you tell if a cd is copy protected, bc i have a philip glass cd that will not rip to mp3?
 
vatstep said:
Two other things, though. First, PSP sounds SO MUCH BETTER than iPod that it's ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Can we get a second opinion on sound quality? Just wondering if others feel the same. :D

I'm thinking about getting a 1gb duo pro, but they're hard to come by and for about the same price I could get an Ipod shuffle. I don't think I'll be watching movies on the PSP much and the size of the shuffle is really appealing, but if the sound really is ridiculously better I might go with the PSP.
 
Shinoobi said:
Can we get a second opinion on sound quality? Just wondering if others feel the same. :D

I'm thinking about getting a 1gb duo pro, but they're hard to come by and for about the same price I could get an Ipod shuffle. I don't think I'll be watching movies on the PSP much and the size of the shuffle is really appealing, but if the sound really is ridiculously better I might go with the PSP.
Click to expand...

It is better, though not ridiculously better per sé. Let's not forget the headphones you use are a bottleneck for sound quality as well.
 
i wouldnt recommend it for mp3 playback, an ipod is a lot better choice, because of the size of it, and memory is expensive for it.

The mp3s sound great on it and i have a few albums on mine but im not giving up either of my ipods
 
I have SonicStage 2.0 and my PC does have USB 2.0. Atrac3 sounds great. Maybe there would be a difference with a high end surround system but this is a PSP so there's no difference in my opinion.
 
Kung Fu Jedi said:
I posted my thoughts on this when you asked in the Offical US PSP thread. In a nut shell, in my opinion, if you are looking for a great game player that has multi-media functions, then the PSP is a must have. If you want a media player and don't care about the game play, then there are better options.
Click to expand...

What would a better option be? I want something that looks as cool as the PSP, is slightly smaller, plays MP3's and videos. It would also be great if it didn't cost too much money.
 
With the screen off it will play music for a VERY long time. I used only 5% of the battery when listening to music for well over an hour during a bus trip.
 
I use my PSP to play MP3's through my car stereo. I love not needing to carry CD's in my car. Its a little big to stick in ur pocket just for music but I say get over it. So what thats it 2 inches bigger than a regular MP3 player if its that big of a deal memorize the music and sing it to urself.
 
SonnyBoy said:
I use my PSP to play MP3's through my car stereo. I love not needing to carry CD's in my car. Its a little big to stick in ur pocket just for music but I say get over it. So what thats it 2 inches bigger than a regular MP3 player if its that big of a deal memorize the music and sing it to urself.
Click to expand...
:lol

Right.
 
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