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March 31, 2005 9:17 AM PST

iTunes meets Sony's PSP

  • 11 comments
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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.

See more CNET content tagged:
PocketMac, information appliance, Sony PSP, Apple Computer, Apple iTunes

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There is better software out there to do this
by uwmbn March 31, 2005 11:03 AM PST
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.
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More
by Kamasutra March 31, 2005 8:29 PM PST
There's also a program called PSPSync which does this as well.
There is better software out there to do this
by uwmbn March 31, 2005 11:03 AM PST
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.
Reply to this comment
More
by Kamasutra March 31, 2005 8:29 PM PST
There's also a program called PSPSync which does this as well.
Sony has way more DRM crap than Itunes
by bobby_brady March 31, 2005 11:31 AM PST
Sony's middle name is DRM.
Reply to this comment
DRM
by March 31, 2005 4:43 PM PST
YEAH! Especially since you can play plain mp3s on the PSP! Take that Sony!
[/sarcasm]
Sony has way more DRM crap than Itunes
by bobby_brady March 31, 2005 11:31 AM PST
Sony's middle name is DRM.
Reply to this comment
DRM
by March 31, 2005 4:43 PM PST
YEAH! Especially since you can play plain mp3s on the PSP! Take that Sony!
[/sarcasm]
Sony W600I and Macs
by mrasg1 August 2, 2006 3:03 AM PDT
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.
Reply to this comment
Sony W600I and Macs
by mrasg1 August 2, 2006 3:03 AM PDT
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.
Reply to this comment
by Angel_zcy October 6, 2008 3:07 AM PDT
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.
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