March 31, 2005 9:17 AM PST

iTunes meets Sony's PSP

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A small California software maker has developed a program designed to bring at least part of Apple Computer's iTunes experience to the new Sony PlayStation Portable.

The software, the latest in Information Appliance Associates' series of PocketMac tools to link handheld devices with PCs and Apple computers, allows consumers to sync music from iTunes playlists directly onto the PSP's memory cards. The software also syncs the devices with Apple's iPhoto and address book and contacts databases.

The capability is unlikely to threaten Apple's iPod. The PSP is heavier, offers only rudimentary music-browsing capabilities, and Sony's Memory Stick storage doesn't rival the bigger iPods for capacity. But it could give dedicated gamers an extra jukebox and photo wallet in their pocket.

"What Mac owner would want a PSP?" Information Appliance Associates asks on its Web site. "Our answer is, all of them."

The software, despite being made by a third party, underscores Sony's ambitions to turn the PSP into a broadly used multimedia device, in part rivaling the iPod and the new Windows-based Portable Media Centers.

Though focused primarily on gaming, the PSP is being distributed in the United States with a full-length copy of "Spider-Man 2," and other studios have said they will release films on Sony's proprietary Universal Media Disc format. The devices also support MP3 music files and Sony's ATRAC format, which is sold in the company's online Connect music store.

The device does not support the music format distributed by Apple's iTunes store, however. That means that the new PocketMac software will only work with MP3 files, rather than songs purchased from Apple online.

The software is available for download on the PocketMac site, for an introductory price of $9.95.

Other developers are working on other extensions of the PSP's power, including a project aimed at bringing the Linux operating system to the device.

11 comments

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There is better software out there to do this
PSPWare and iPSP are both better apps. PSPWare is the same price and can encode MP4 files and sync up iTunes playlists, iPhoto rolls, back up memory saves, and sync Mp4 movies.
Posted by uwmbn (5 comments )
Reply Link Flag
More
There's also a program called PSPSync which does this as well.
Posted by Kamasutra (2 comments )
Link Flag
There is better software out there to do this
PSPWare and iPSP are both better apps. PSPWare is the same price and can encode MP4 files and sync up iTunes playlists, iPhoto rolls, back up memory saves, and sync Mp4 movies.
Posted by uwmbn (5 comments )
Reply Link Flag
More
There's also a program called PSPSync which does this as well.
Posted by Kamasutra (2 comments )
Link Flag
Sony has way more DRM crap than Itunes
Sony's middle name is DRM.
Posted by bobby_brady (753 comments )
Reply Link Flag
DRM
YEAH! Especially since you can play plain mp3s on the PSP! Take that Sony!
[/sarcasm]
Posted by (54 comments )
Link Flag
Sony has way more DRM crap than Itunes
Sony's middle name is DRM.
Posted by bobby_brady (753 comments )
Reply Link Flag
DRM
YEAH! Especially since you can play plain mp3s on the PSP! Take that Sony!
[/sarcasm]
Posted by (54 comments )
Link Flag
Sony W600I and Macs
I have a Sony Ericsson W600i walkman phone. When I purchased
the phone through Cingular I had a windows based desktop. The
disc2phone software included with the phone worked to put
songs on the phone from my HD. I have now purchased an
Macbook Pro from Apple and the Disc2phone software does not
work!!!

Do you know of any way that I can get songs on to my phone
with a Mac?!?

Thank you in advance for your time, I really appreciate it.
Posted by mrasg1 (4 comments )
Reply Link Flag
Sony W600I and Macs
I have a Sony Ericsson W600i walkman phone. When I purchased
the phone through Cingular I had a windows based desktop. The
disc2phone software included with the phone worked to put
songs on the phone from my HD. I have now purchased an
Macbook Pro from Apple and the Disc2phone software does not
work!!!

Do you know of any way that I can get songs on to my phone
with a Mac?!?

Thank you in advance for your time, I really appreciate it.
Posted by mrasg1 (4 comments )
Reply Link Flag
there are many music are still under DRM protection. To solve the problem, I use NoteBurner Audio converter to remove DRM so that all music from iTune can be played on my PSP. I should say this is the best method to bypass DRM until all music are DRM FREE.
Posted by Angel_zcy (1 comment )
Reply Link Flag
 

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