Chapter 8. Playing Audio on the PSP

There's really been only one time I've wanted to use my PSP as a weapon. I was at a record store and stranded in the checkout line between two pairs of people, both of which were having music-related discussions.

In front of me, two guys were pondering which was more avant band: Sonic Youth or Pixies. Behind me was the standard "best band ever" argument, with the typical names being tossed out: the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, and other rock 'n' roll relics.

This is why I do most of my shopping online.

I wanted to beat all these people on their obviously soft heads with my PSP and inform them that there is good rock that's come out since 1988 (1975, in the case of the people behind me) and, to set the record straight, inform them that David Bowie is the best "band" of all time and that Soul Coughing was more avant than Sonic Youth and Pixies put together; it didn't grab as many hipsters simply because it wasn't as pretentious.

Here's the cool thing: I could happily have demonstrated the amazing melodies and arrangements of my favorite bands with the PSP in my pocket, as it was loaded with tunes. What's more, everyone could have listened, because unlike the average MP3 player, the PSP has speakers. And while the listeners were slowly starting to nod in agreement with my far-superior musical taste, I could have shown them pictures from the last concert I went to (Beck/The Flaming Lips, of course) and then played a few rounds of Lumines while waiting for the cashier.

You don't have to put a whole heck of a lot of effort into organizing your audio fileswhether they're songs or other recordingson your PSP's Memory Stick Duo. All you really have to do is make sure that they're in a format the PSP recognizes and that they're in the proper folders. You can also learn to master Group Mode and create playlists (or groups, as the PSP calls them), if you so desire.