New (and free) PSP Media Manager from Sony

[patsu]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/10/28/new-media-manager-for-psp/

Today we are launching a new version of Media Manager for the PSP that allows you to organize and sync your music, photos and other digital content. The new media manager also grants access to the PlayStation Store through the PC and is designed to accommodate the expanding functionality of PSP. With the recent PSP firmware (v 5.01) update which gives you direct access to the PlayStation Store and the new media manager you have multiple ways to get content and manage it.

The new Media Manager is available as a free download at http://store.playstation.com.

Consumers who own the retail version of Media Manager (v2.5) will be able to upgrade to the online version of Media Manager PRO (v3.0) for free. To download the new media manager go to http://store.playstation.com.

You can watch a video presentation of the Media Manager by clicking on the PS Blog link above.

EDIT: Oh yes, The PC Playstation Store is online now too. They took it down for upgrade last week. It seems that Sony has integrated the PC Playstation Store into the Media Manager. I have not checked it out yet.

 

[patsu]

I played around with it briefly. It's a decent attempt but still falls a little short in the ease-of-use or user friendliness department (compared to the likes of Apple and Google).

* It won't start unless you plugged in a PSP. There is no intermediate storage (e.g., convert media in batches first before copying to PSP). It also won't auto-start when you plug in a PSP.

* The UI lacks feedback and instant gratification. The photos show up as generic icons instead of thumbnails for example. It's also a little sluggish. If they had use the PC HDD as intermediate storage, the performance should be better.

* Too many buttons (A little too cluttered) in general.

* The PC Playstation Store looks and behaves similar to the real thing, but I don't know where the "back" button is. It's not available on screen. The "back" button is very important in browsing. I find navigation awkward without one.

Hopefully Sony can continue to improve the software. It will help them differentiate better.

 

[Fafalada]

* The UI lacks feedback and instant gratification. The photos show up as generic icons instead of thumbnails for example. It's also a little sluggish. If they had use the PC HDD as intermediate storage, the performance should be better.

IMO the sluggish performance = 100% responsibility of Flash(tm). Not sure why they bother with it if thy have some sort of crossplatform UI system for PSP/PS3 stores, maybe it was outsourced.

* The PC Playstation Store looks and behaves similar to the real thing, but I don't know where the "back" button is.

Right next to "store top" one, the arrow pointing backwards.

 

[patsu]

IMO the sluggish performance = 100% responsibility of Flash(tm). Not sure why they bother with it if thy have some sort of crossplatform UI system for PSP/PS3 stores, maybe it was outsourced.

Yes, that too. I was more refering the the sluggish-ness of the Windows UI (not the Store itself). Although as you pointed out, the Flash loading is not helping.

Right next to "store top" one, the arrow pointing backwards.

Okay, I need to check back. Installed it in a Windows VM. Not sure whether to keep the program yet.