Sony's Media Go for the New PSPgo

Sony's PSP Media Manager is used to sync a PlayStation Portable with downloaded videos, music and photos on a user's computer. Because Media Manager struggled with many technical problems, Sony recently released a new version called Media Go.

Originally a for-pay application, Media Manager eventually became available for free as a download. The fact that Apple's iTunes software was included for free with every iPod purchase probably led to Sony's decision to offer Media Manager for free.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that Media Manager is still available as a free download on some unofficial download sites despite Media Go's release. One can even find the original boxed version is even through some online vendors. Given all that noise, it is important to highlight the problems with the original software.

A History of Video Problems

Sony released the initial version of Media Manager in 2006. They continued to produce releases up to version 3.0 in late 2008, followed by the release of the re-branded Media Go in 2009.

Problems with video encoding plagued the early versions of Media Manager. In many cases, downloaded videos simply would not play on the PSP. Other problems included the audio not being encoded, effectively creating a unwanted "silent" movie.

The video conversion times for Media Manager are also extremely long. In many cases, longer movies would take 8-10 hours to convert, with the PSP having to remain tethered to the PC the entire time.

Additionally, Media Manager uses its own cryptic file management system as supposed to the Windows file system. This frustrates experienced users who prefer to manage their own files and folders.

Misconceptions and a Solution

As stated earlier, there are some misconceptions as to the availability of Media Manager since it was originally released as for-pay software, but was later made available as a free download. Incredibly, some online vendors still offer the boxed version of the old software for a price. Since Media Go will only be available for free directly from Sony, this should mitigate any future confusion and prevent unscrupulous vendors from trying to sell obsolete software to an unsuspecting person.

Both the 3.0 version of Media Manager and Media Go appear to have fixed the problems with video conversion and other issues that plagued the early editions of the software. Because of the lack of a UMD drive on the recently released PSP Go, the user is now forced to use Media Go to manage the device's content. That fact alone should keep Sony's development team trying their best to keep Media Go software running smoothly through future versions. Their success against Nintendo, or Apple for that matter, may depend on it.