Only 35% of PSP owners play music and videos

by Andrew Yoon on Nov 12th 2008 9:40AM

The PSP can do a lot of things -- just look at the XMB. But, what feature do PSP owners take the most advantage of? According to NPD Group (via Edge), the answer should be pretty obvious: games. "Gameplay is the feature used by most (84 percent) on the PlayStation Portable."

Who would've thunk that a portable gaming device would be used ... well, for games? Although Sony constantly touts PSP's other features, they're still not used by a majority of PSP owners. "Slightly more than one third of PSP owners are watching movies (35 percent) and listening to music (33 percent) on their device." That's a large percentage, but it's certainly far from the majority.

It shouldn't be surprising PSP has lost its luster as a media player; there are certainly much better music and video players out there. While Sony could spend their efforts in improving these features in firmware updates (we wouldn't mind), it seems like Sony should refocus their time on the main thing PSP is meant to be used for: games.

Source

Tags: habits, npd, psp

Reader Comments (75)

for me its 50% music and 50% games

At one time I did use it as a mp3 player, but the storage capacity stunk. I eventually bought a real mp3 player.

Wait, memory is cheap and PSP uses removable storage. What do you mean it's storage capacity stinks? You can get 2 8GB sticks now for under $80. Much cheaper if you use SD micro with an adapter.

$80 is a lot of money. >_>

For starters, 8gb isn't much and, yes, $10USD is allot per gigabyte. I was able to acquire a 30GB zune for $90.

wow. i had the same situation. i used to use my PSP with a 4GB memory stick as my primary MP3 player but 4GB was just not enough. i just got tired of having to delete songs and albums to make space for the new ones. so i eventually broke down and bought an 80GB Zune. i havent looked back since, and my PSP essentially just collects dust since i dont even bother to carry it with me anymore.

Where are you all going for your storage needs? $20 gets me a 4GB stick, and $25 gets me 8GB (but 16GB then costs me $50-something and no way am I paying that). No-brainer. My 8GB iPod Touch is now mostly gathering dust until I figure out what to do with it. The two advantages it has over the PSP are Installer/Cydia and easy Youtube access (and downloading) so it's not retired or anything.

(like I said earlier, you should not be paying $10/GB- it should be much cheaper).

I used to do a TON of video on it, but then I got an iPhone and that's where my video goes now.

I still play the games like crazy.

I *never* used it for music.

For me it is 100% games, I could care less about the other features since other devices tend to do those same features better.

but that means you still care right?

No, actually I don't care about those other features.

Then say "I couldn't care less"; think about it for a second.

This is one of the main things that turned me off from the PSP, which is its non-focus on what should be its main focus: GAMES. I wish handhelds and consoles alike would all get back to GAMING instead of trying to make video gaming consoles and handhelds all-in-one entertainment systems which only drives the prices of these things up for the consumers. Whatever happened to consoles/handhelds that ::: WOW ::: just played games? Who gives about an Internet browser, movie player, and MP3 player? I have a desktop, laptop, DVD player, PS3/Blu-ray player, and a 60GB iPod for that stuff which works better than it ever would on a PSP or DS.

oh ok cus you said you could care less.

I use for all three. If it were just a gaming device, I probably would have passed

I play games on it whenever I travel and play games on my PS3 when I'm at home.

The feature I use my PSP mostly for is Podcasts. They download ever so nicely through RSS over Wi-fi. This is possibly the best feature I've ever seen. I don't have to hook it up to my computer like every other mp3 player. I don't have the ability to run a resource intensive itunes to work my ipod and I haven't used that for over a year.

If no one has this set up, you click on a podcast xml or rss button on their website from the PSP web browser. It'll run through some options and voila, you have a podcast subscription! So easy! (Be sure to limit how many past episodes you want to keep to make sure your memory card never fills up.)

Now if only the Zune had this ability with it's wi-fi. I've heard the iphone and ipod touch may have this ability soon but it's only for smaller podcasts under 10mb. C'mon Apple, Sony can do it...

Such an underestimated feature on an already feature laden device.

I use it for music and movies all the time.
However i agree that some firmware updates to add more types of formats would help a lot.

I don't have an iPod Touch or iPhone, but compariing them side by side I think iPods are going to give PSPs a run for their money.

memory storage
iPod - 8GB, 16GB, 32GB
PSP - 1GB (with some packs)

Supported Video Resolution
iPod - 640x480
PSP - 480x272

Downloadble games
iPod - 1500 (not confirmed)
PSP - 50?

iPod Touch 8GB $229
PSP Game Pack w/1GB memstick $199

Not that I care too much, but since im here..
Memory up to 8gb can be bought, you know? And you can also make a switch according to what you want to do at the moment.

Video 640x480 IS supported by the psp

I bet 99% of those ipod games are trash.

I honestly dont care. I watch my movies on tv and only use the psp for gaming (occasionally for music too), but I see the video capabilities comparables to that of an ipod.
On the music side, well... not so much

Thanks for the feedback/comment. All MP4 videos that are have a greater height than 272 have never worked for me on my PSP. They will simply say Unsupported Data. If you know of one that does or a different format that will work at a higher res I would love to know.

And the point about the Memory was sort of more related to the price. By the time you get an 8GB Mem stick you could have an iPod Touch. Now as far as the games, I am sure some are not that great. But I am pretty sure that they are not nearly as expensive.

And I believe the browser for the iPods are much better that than the PSP. Although the PSP does have a limited Flash Player where the iPods have none.

I agree with alot of the things you guys posted here.
But, the irreplacable battery option for the iphone is a big turn off for me. Also, the 8G memory is only 40bucks on Amazon.com. Another plus is the CFW for the PSP. It will add numbers of downloadable games to the psp library.

well if sony was smart and had music and video downloads that the psp could get directly off the PSN store like itunes then i'm sure it would go up. Most people just carry a ipod anyway its smaller and easier to carry around than a psp. Sony owns all this great music and yet we dont see any of it. Its one of the dumbest companies I've ever seen.

I barley use my PSP anymore, even for games.
I have a 5th gen video iPod for all my music/video's
and for portable gaming I use my DS.

Not to be hating on the PSP,I just don't seem to use it anymore.

WTF DS SUCKS BALLS!

Once upon a time I used the DS for all my gaming too. Now that I've discovered that most of my favorite DS games have PSP equivalents or are emuatable by way of a previous version (Phoenix Wright games 1-3 exist in GBA form, for instance). Losing the DS to an airport checkpoint didn't help either.

i think it would be more useful for music if the XMB was accessible in-game like the PS3 or even the X360 guide.

i'll be playing a game on the subway, but when i get off, i have to switch to my iPod for tunes.

I'm about 90% video, 10% gaming these days. I have a 4GB card, so I load it up with movies to watch at work.

I use mine mostly for audio and movies.

I like to listen to podcasts like Smodcast, NPR science Friday, RadioLab, etc on it. I hook it up to the home stereo.

For the movies, I use it mostly to watch the movies that my wife would not enjoy or that are not appropriate for the kids. I just rip-em down from the DVDs and watch them at bedtime.

Overall i'd say that I use my PSP more than any other media or gaming device I own, including my cell phone.

I do have to admit that I want an Ipod Touch tho...

I use my psp as a music device about 50 percent of the time (as in usage), 25 game, 25 movies.

I think that the reason why the percentage of people who use their PSPs for music playback is so low isn't due to storage capacities of memory cards but because the music player on the PSP is so basic.

You can't easily create playlists. You can't seamlessly play music that is physically located in different folders.

I would love to standardize on the PSP for all of my portable media playback needs, but the PSP's music player is simply "ok in a pinch" not as a main player.

Also, it's huge compared to other mp3 players, even the slims.

I still use it for music at times, however. Now that I've got a 4GB stick, maybe even more often.

I would like to download and listen music on my PSP, but it isn't possible to play any DRM-protected file and I don't have time to rip my favorite CDs in mp3 format. I enjoy taking my PSP on the plane to watch movies, and wish UMDs were less expensive and easier to find. Thus, I play games 80% of my time.

Sony should refocus their time on the main thing PSP desperately needs: DivX Certification

I'm pretty sure that if the psp was actually dvix certified the percentage numbers for video watchers would definitely be >35%. It's the one thing that stops me from watching movies on it, that and the fact that converting my dvd's to watch on the psp is too time consuming.

Xilisoft makes converting DVD's to watch on the PSP pretty easy, but you are sure right about it being time consuming

I do not see the PSP ever being used as a person's sole music player. It is just too big when you compare to other MP3 capable device. Who wants to work out with a PSP strapped to their arm?

I believe the percentage of people who use the device for video playback will increase as the video store expands its library. Especially now that the store can be accessed directly from the PSP. Pricing is what will hold Sony back in this arena. What Sony should do to boost this is provide a Netflix type service where users pay a flat rate each month and can rent a limited amount of movies (unlimited would be better, but unrealistic).

Perhaps they should go this direction with games as well? If they got into the game rental business via the online store they could certainly boost sales. Doing this would also force game publishers to create better content.

I use mine for everything but games, we load ours up w/ movies before bed and hook it to the tv. I use it for podcast, pics, I have a shoutcast station for it, I i have a book converter for it, but I don't play games on it...

guys, you can download youtube videos on to your psp and its legal! half of them work, but some don't. here's how you do it: go to youtube and get a video. you'll see the url. copy it. then go to keepvid.com there you just need to paste the url. and then you download the mp4 one. your welcome if this helped anyone.

I have four 4GB memory sticks (I got them on sale for about $24 each). I use one for games (demos, purchases and saves), one for music, one for videos and one for images (webcomics, photos, etc.).

The one that is nearly always in my PSP is the video stick. I use PQDVD's "PSP Movie Creator" to rip, convert and copy full TV DVD seasons onto the memory stick in one step. It's a very buggy app (crashes often), but when it works it's fantastic. It can rip a 45 minute episode in about 10 minutes on my PC. I then watch these episodes during lunch at my favorite coffee shop.

I'd love to have a 16GB stick and just combine them all, since swapping them is a very slight pain.

Games 90%
Pictures and web browsing 10%
thats it no movies or music I have ipod classic for that

How can someone own this wonderful game device and not use it for games?

100% games for me. The only other thing Ive used it for was to watch a UMD movie on an airplane. Sony needs to focus more on the games.

I did upload movies and music on to my PSP-2000, but with limited format support and storage space, I gave up. Now its 100% gaming for my PSP, to be honest, Sony should do some soul-searching on what the PSP should do and be GOOD at it, the iPod isn't gonna steal gamers from DS and PSP.

Well, I use all the features on my PSP, video and music are regular. I even listen to the internet radio quite frequently and have some pictures. AND the browser, mobile sites are best because they are mostly text and fast loading. I'm probably on the other features more than I am gaming on it. Just waiting for that Resistance demo to become available...and RE2 to drop to PS Store.

I did however go and buy an 8G stick.

It's the perfect device for around the home IMHO.

ok well why not make a built in hard drive psp with mem slots for extra storage and change the xmb to something with more life. its just so dead and plain i know what im saying is out of the picture with these comments but true the psp could do way better havent they made it into a phone now that they have the psp-3000 its should be just software updates but what ever its just something to think about. thanks for reading guys comment if you wish.

PSP Games sucky really.. There is only few good ones out now.. Im wating for Dissidia and BBS so i am just using it for Music and Videos and it does the job pretty well.. Still im bit dissapointed.

The only thing holding these features back is easily accessible content. Once they offer movies, TV shows, etcetera in the PSP store where the PSP can download them, a lot more folks will.

Seriously, it's a very nice system for watching content while in transit (boat, plane, train, auto, skidoo...)

I use every single feature of the PSP. Actually all those multimedia features is what made me upgrade to a Slim rather than a DS lite. I watch short animations, and documentaries. (I've just watched BBC's Walking With Cavemen part 1). I listen to music and view DeviantART pics. I use the internet to download files from my PC to the device using a certain program and server. I play games. I even use it for ebook reading (using an app called Bookr).

Actually, it's a great multimedia device. The screen is even bigger than that of the iPhone/iTouch. As to video resolution, the maximum is 720x480 for the PSP, which is bigger than that of the iPhone. A whopping bitrate of 3MB/sec is supported. I agree, though, that converting videos to the PSP format is the only hassle, although PSP Video 9 made it rather simple.

What I'd like to see from Sony are updates to those multimedia features.

im almost certain the PSP can play iPod formatted videos now. i used to just use any old iPod video converter to get them on my PSP. no hassle at all.

This might be a silly suggestion but, cant sony make 2 psps, 1 for adults and 1 for teens. I used my psp for everything, but I would prefer it to be smaller. Like the other post said. who wants to strap a psp around their arm when working out. I just have metal gear ops in my umd tray and all the game demos on my 8 gig card. I also have 6 movies from my ripped dvds and 1 gig of music and audio books. I love using the skype when I call other psp friends and I use the internet brower to catch movie showtimes in my area real quick. Im just not big into gaming. Thats why Im going to buy an Itouch this xmas, but I wish psp would focus on a much more convenient size. If they did, i wouldnt bother with apple.

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Only 35% of PSP owners play music and videos

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