-Audio Playback

Before you make any conclusions about the PSP's audio playback functionality, remember that I don't plan o­n using my PSP as an MP3 player. I may have a song o­n it for o­ne reason or another, but to be completely honest, I haven't tested this feature too much.

From the "Music" menu, you select your Memory Stick, then select your track, and you're ready to go. I've heard of o­ne person complain about a lack of sub-folder support, but they must mean multiple levels -- just loading albums as folders into the unit presents no problem. o­ne thing I was unable to figure out, though, was Album Art; the PSP clearly has support for such a thing. I suspect this has to do with either ATRAC3 files or ID3 tags (because the PSP supports both of the above). I tried having a file in the folder named "album_name.jpg" to go with the folder's name, but that didn't seem to work. I was also unable to get my year-old version of SonicStage (Sony's software for creating and managing ATRAC3 files) to recognize the PSP, so I couldn't test ATRAC3 at all. Hopefully someone can figure it out.

Of all the PSP's features, I'd say the MP3 playback is probably the area that could use the most work. There appears to be no visualization support, no playlist support, and no support for extended playback effects such as SRS WOW. Still, the PSP is certainly suitable as a second or third MP3 player. IGN has posted an extended battery life guide o­n the PSP, and they list it being able to play MP3s for about 10 hours with the screen off.

Click the image below for a video demonstration of the audio playback functionality (DivX 5, 2.71MB, 1:03).

On the next page, we're covering o­ne of the PSP's most interesting features -- video playback.