Appendix A. Nine Nifty PSP Accessories

It's just one of those things: You blow a couple of C-notes on a new gadget and suddenly realize you haven't spent enough. There's certainly a lot to love about the PSP, and even more to love if you bought it in one of its packs with value-added accessories, but sometimes you just need more.

Where there's a need, there are companies that want to make money. Many manufacturers make all kinds of PSP accessories, some of which you may not be able to live without and others that you may not realize you need until you find out that they exist.

This appendix is intended to give you an idea of the more interesting things that you may want to consider purchasing for your PSP. It doesn't cover everythingespecially the more ubiquitous stuff, like analog sticks, designer skins, and general accessory packs. Instead, it presents nine devices that you may find useful or cool, or maybe both.

For one example, although I love Sony's headphone remote, which lets you change volume and tunes while listening to music, I hate the earbuds, which frequently slip out of my ears. Fortunately, the world is full of headphones, and many were designed specifically for the PSP (although their 1/8-inch mini plugs will fit into any compatible headphone jack). The two sets of headphones featured in this appendix sound fantastic and stay in place.

For another example, the PSP battery tends to die a little too quickly for my taste. Some of the products in the following pages contain booster batteries that keep the PSP running much longer than its typical 3 or so hours.

In some cases, you can buy an item from the company's store at the link provided; otherwise, shop online or at your favorite electronics store.

I didn't include prices with these listings. That's because the prices of electronics drop over time, and the current retail prices may be out of date by the time you read this book. Also, if you're a smart shopper, you can find products like these for far less than their retail prices.