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[akascream]

Do I need to have songs on a memory card for this to be unlocked in games, or do none support such an obvious feature yet?

 

[Lord Error]

None of the games support that feature yet, sadly.

Expect to be forced to use ATRAC3 compressed songs once games start supporting this, though (for technical reasons, not the DRM reasons, btw)

 

[Amir0x]

none support such an obvious feature yet

Answer'd.

 

[Nerevar]

Expect to be forced to use ATRAC3 compressed songs once games start supporting this, though (for technical reasons, not the DRM reasons, btw)

Why, becuase the Sony API's will only support in-game ATRAC3 playback? I would've figured by now that Sony would have learned that was a guaranteed way to ensure nobody uses that feature. Some companies will never learn I guess.

 

[Lord Error]

Hardware reasons. On PSP, MP3 decoding is done in software, and takes CPU hit. ATRAC3 decoding is done on dedicated media processor and takes no CPU hit.

I don't see what's the big deal of converting some of your songs to ATRAC for the purpose of using them in the custom soundtrack? It's better than sacrificing the game itself only so you can use MP3s.

Actually, there is a problem... From what I've heard, the Connect software cannot copy ATRAC files to memory stick pro duo, due to some weird bug, but I guess that should be easily fixable.

 

[Nerevar]

Hardware reasons. On PSP, MP3 decoding is done in software, and takes CPU hit. ATRAC3 decoding is done on dedicated media processor and takes no CPU hit.

I don't see what's the big deal of converting some of your songs to ATRAC for the purpose of using them in the custom soundtrack? It's better than sacrificing the game itself only so you can use MP3s.

Actually, there is a problem... From what I've heard, the Connect software cannot copy ATRAC files to memory stick pro duo, due to some weird bug, but I guess that should be easily fixable.

Well, I didn't realize Sony included dedicated hardware to do ATRAC3 decoding, but that still doesn't change the fact that custom soundtracks probably won't be a big deal because it will be limited to ATRAC3. I imagine 90% of people (myself included) will copy their music to their PSP directly from their PC to listen to at opportune times and won't be happy that this music won't be able to be used in the "custom soundtracks" option. And because of that I doubt support will be widespread. All things considered, it was probably even easier on the xbox, and it was still a hardly supported feature. I doubt things will shape up differently on the PSP.

 

[Forsete]

Hardware reasons. On PSP, MP3 decoding is done in software, and takes CPU hit. ATRAC3 decoding is done on dedicated media processor and takes no CPU hit.

Hmm, interesting.. So if my audio files were ATRAC3 format the battery should last longer (while just listening to music) because there is no CPU load? Or would the difference be very small?

 

[Lord Error]

Possibly yes, but I have no real idea either way... As far as I know at the moment it's impossible to copy ATRAC3 file on the MS Duo Pro right now and have it to be playable (due to the mentioned bug).

I imagine 90% of people (myself included) will copy their music to their PSP directly from their PC to listen to at opportune times and won't be happy that this music won't be able to be used in the "custom soundtracks" option. And because of that I doubt support will be widespread. All things considered, it was probably even easier on the xbox, and it was still a hardly supported feature. I doubt things will shape up differently on the PSP.

Custom soundtrack is supported in pretty much all the games where it matters on Xbox (racers, mostly). I agree, building your custom soundtrack on Xbox is a pretty big hassle, but I don't see how creating one dedicated folder on your memory stick and using Connect software to put your music there is any more of a hassle. If anything, it's easier than burning the CD with the playlist you want, then ripping it on the Xbox.

Of course, it's entirely possible that some games will be able to use MP3 music for custom soundtrack (something like Lumines for example), but the game that push the hardware a lot (like rumoured Burnout), probably won't.

 

[akascream]

While we are on the subject, what is the overhead of decoding mp3s like anyway?