Report: PSP won't get music downloads soon

Sony is not building a download store for the upcoming PSP Go, according to a report.

(Credit: Eurogamer.net)

Could the disaster that was Sony's Connect music service have soured the international conglomerate on offering downloads at the PlayStation Network?

Rafat Ali over at the tech news blog PaidContent.org is reporting that not only has Sony scrapped plans--at least for the time being--to offer music downloads to owners of the PlayStation Portable, but the executive in charge of dealing with the labels has resigned, according to the report.

Two weeks ago, CNET News reported that Sony had talked to some of the largest recording companies about the possibility of offering music via the PlayStation Network, the online store for PlayStation, Sony's video game console, and PlayStation Portable (PSP), the multi-purpose handheld.

PaidContent's report comes on the eve of the expected debut of the new PSP Go, the latest version of the device. Sony executives were not immediately available for comment.

Music should have been one of the PSP's core offerings a long time ago. Sony is a major player in gaming and music. It's a little ironic that while Sony owns the second largest music label, the company can't offer MP3s to PSP owners.

James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research, is just one of the people who has said that the PSP has failed so far to live up to its potential. The device is probably one of the best mobile video players available, with a larger screen than any of the iPods or iPhones. It provides an excellent game-playing experience. But it has been well chronicled that the machine was hobbled by Sony's decision to initially offer physical media (Universal Media Disc) rather than digital content. That appears to be changing as the PSP Go, according to reports, will not offer an UMD drive.

Sony has also been determined to keep the PSP's focus on gaming, which is understandable. But at the same time, Apple's iPhone has taken the Swiss Army knife approach and is offering a device that plays music, videos, and games, and also takes photos, downloads books, helps us organize our lives, counts calories and a lot more, thanks to all the applications being written for it.

Sony may have lost the taste for competing in digital music sales by the misguided attempt that was Sony Connect. Connect was a troubled effort marked by infighting and software glitches and the company finally shut it down a year ago.

[TimGray--2008]

PSP the best portable? HUH? The DS beats it hard hands down. Current and past sales numbers support this as a fact and not an opinion. I love my PSP but the DS is what people want, not the PSP.

Sales don't make a better product. McDonald's has sold more hamburgers than any other company on Earth, that means their hamburgers are the best?

No. It means they have a cheap product that appeals to parents with small children who don't care how good something is.

Yup. Nintendo has the McDonald's audience.

[Leebo41]

DS is a good portable for my young daughter, since it centers around the younger users. However for the older and hardcore gamer the PSP offer a better platform of mature games! Example: Killzone! I don't pay attention to sales, because I like what I like, not what other people are buying! If they only sold 2 PSPs I would have one of them!

[ibeetle]

Sony should use this opportunity to get out of the software market. They can still make great hardware, but there software has been barley passable.

Now that iTunes Music Store, Amazon and eMusic is pretty much DRM free Sony should just provide the hardware experience and let PSP users get their music from others that seem to be able to do a better job of delivery. Sony should sign a deal with Apple, or Amazon to sync with their music management tools (i.e. iTunes, etc.) and offer a free $10 gift card with each PSP purchase to get users started.

"But it has been well chronicled that the machine was hobbled by Sony's decision to initially offer physical media (Universal Media Disc) rather than digital content."

It was not hobbled by any such thing. The machine has sold 50 million units world wide. More than the PS3. More than the Xbox 360. The Wii just recently surpassed that mark.

What people figured out, very early on, was that you didn't need a company controlling your digital content. You could rip your own CDs and DVDs and drag and drop them straight to the device when it was connected to your computer. Try that with an iPod and see how far you get.