Playstation Portable

The Original Playstation Portable (PSP) is amazing! With all its wonderful Features, the PSP puts a new spin on handheld gaming. The PSP 1000 (original) is a larger size in width than the new slim and lite PSP 2000. PSP 1000 is also made out of a metal material, as the new PSP 2000 is made of a different lighter material. The weight and size makes absolutely NO difference in the game play, or any other excellent feature. The difference between the two is mainly just the size, making the original just as good as the new. If you are looking for more memory for your PSP buying the slim 2000 is not the answer. Just simply buy a memory card online, or in any electronic store. The more memory, the more space you get for every PSP feature.

Features

Gaming:

The gaming is just fabulous for a portable system. It amazes me how well Sony transferred home gaming into portable gaming. You can choose from almost any game category that was made for Playstation 2. You can play sport, action, adventure, fighting, and more!!! The loading time depends on what UMD game disc you play. Some games load a lot faster than others. If you are in a rush, and don't have time to save your game, you can put your system on pause mode. To do this just simply turn off your system, without even having to save your game. The next time you turn the console back on, you will be returned to the game you were playing. If you put your PSP on pause mode a lot, never forget to put the game in next time you go back to playing, or you will lose your game (if you didn't already save it.) In certain PSP games you may not be allowed to save until you get up to a certain point. If you leave it on pause you can stop when you want. Pause mode works best for me in sports games. If you are in the middle of a baseball game, and you want to stop, put your system on pause and when you turn it back on your back in the game. My gaming experience with the PSP has been far much better than any other portable game experience. Most people say they like the Nintendo DS better because of the touch screen, when in reality the touch screen gets a little boring after a couple weeks. If you are looking to buy the DS just because of the touch screen, I suggest you don't buy it.

Music:

A great feature that Sony added to the PSP is music. Your game console transforms right into an MP3 player, adding any song of your choice straight onto your system. If you don't feel like putting in your headphones, or you want a friend to listen to a song with you, just unplug your headphones and out comes music for everyone to enjoy. Whether your listening to some tunes, or selecting an option using your PSP, sound is always played out of the speakers with or without your headphones. The sound that is delivered is just as good as any other MP3/Ipod. If you think you would enjoy this feature, and would like to use it, there may be steps involved depending on where you are sending the music from. To transfer music onto your device using Itunes, plug in your Playstation Portable with a USB Cable that you can buy in almost any electronic store, or online. Once you connect it open start, then "My Computer" and go to "My PSP." Open Itunes and go to "Edit," and then "Preferences." There will be nine tabs to choose from. Choose "Advanced," and then select "Importing." There will be default settings that Itunes automatically uses. In order to have music on your portable system, you must change these settings. Where it says "On CD Insert:" make sure the setting says "Ask to Import CD," if it is not, just simply scroll down to the correct option and change it. Where it says "Import Using:" change the setting to MP3 Encoder. Once these steps are completed, close Preferences and create a Playlist with all the songs you would wish to have on your PSP. After you create your Playlist, burn it onto a CD. Make sure that you don't have more than 72 hours of music on your Playlist or else there will be too much music to hold. Once it is burned, you can RIP the songs to MP3 format, and you are done!! Just drag and place your music onto the "Music" section of your PSP. If you have an MP3 burner instead of Itunes, you do not have to follow most of these steps, just drag your songs into the Music section of your PSP and your done. MP3 burners automatically burn music onto MP3 format, which Itunes does not do, which is why you must change Itunes format. If you follow these steps, enjoy your brand new music player!!

Video:

I would say video is definitely my favorite part of the PSP. With all the UMD video discs made, you can buy a whole selection of movies or television shows. You receive a beautiful bright picture with your Sony PSP, and decent sound quality that I love. If you would like to, you could put IPod Podcasts on your PSP also. Once you open up your PSP on your computer, open my documents, go to Music>IPod Music>Podcasts. Once Podcasts is open, drag the Podcast video into The Video section of your PSP, and your done. If you are a Youtube fanatic, or see a funny video on Myspace TV, download a legal video converter called PSP Video 9. It is a free converter that will convert the video to MP4 format (The format PSP uses), and you can simply put your video on your PSP by dragging your converted video onto the video section of your PSP. Enjoy your wide selection of video!

Internet Browser:

Another popular feature of the PSP is the Internet Browser. To hook up internet browser you have to hook up internet using your PC Router details and passwords. After you hook it up, go crazy! You can access almost any website, including sites you have to log in to! Note: try to avoid very busy websites because the PSP will not let you access the page after a while. And it is also possible that once you go on too many large websites the Internet Browser may stop working, so be careful of that, and I highly suggest you stay away from downloading anything using your PSP. The PSP has fast internet connection if you stay close to your router. After you get to a certain distance away the internet will either go really slow or stop working. You may also access pictures, add bookmarks, and save images.

Photos:

Add as many pictures as your memory stick can carry!! It is very simple to add photos. Select whatever photo you would like, right click and select save picture as… and save it where you please. If you would like the image on your PSP go to "My Documents," and select "My Pictures." Find the image there, and left click and drag the photo to your Picture section of your PSP. It is as simple as that, no conversions, just simple steps. If you would like the Image as your background image on your PSP, Safely remove the PSP from your computer, and select the image using your Playstation Portable. Once the image is selected, it will put the Image in full screen. Press the triangle button and select "Set As Wallpaper," and you will have your background image, until you would like to change it again.

Graphics:

The graphics are amazing for a portable system. Sony tried to translate the graphics for Playstaion 2 into a portable system, and they succeeded without a doubt. The graphics look almost identical to PS2 on every single game. The graphics are what makes the PSP special and different from every other portable game system.

Wrapping Things Up:

The Playstation Portable is by far the best portable game system I have ever used. I have found it excellent for trips because I only had to bring the Playstation portable with me instead of other electronics that I wanted to bring, like my iPod, or DVD player. It has long lasting battery, and it comes with a memory card that can hold everything you would enjoy to have on your PSP! If you are looking to buy a portable game system, treat yourself to the original Sony PSP!