Hack 10. Repurpose a Dead PSP  
You were trying to play Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix on the PSP, while actually skating, and now you're left with a broken PSP. This hack will walk you through what can be done with your shattered PSP, as well as how to recoup as much of the original cost of the PSP as possible. You're past the denial stage where you sat rocking back and forth in the corner of your room, cold and alone for hours, clutching it close to your chest, repeatedly switching it on and off, removing the battery, replacing the battery, plugging it in, hoping that suddenly your PSP would turn back on. You've followed all the recommendations in "Troubleshoot Your PSP" [Hack #6]. You took it to a friend skilled in the art of soldering. He opened up your PSP, gently reconnecting all the aged connections, perhaps even replacing the USB port. You tried new batteries and even an odd voodoo ritual that you discovered online. Nothing has worked. You've finally come to grips with the dreadful reality of it all: your PSP is dead. Although everything has seemed hopeless during your futile attempts to resurrect your PSP, don't throw that PSP away in frustration. There are several different things you can do with it, and this hack will discuss some of the possibilities. 1.11.1. Use Your Dead PSP to Get a New PSP You're already in serious withdrawal from the games, the videos, the pictures, and the music you were used to enjoying via your little digital friend. You need to replace your PSP. Here are three ideas for ways to recuperate some of the money you invested in your dead PSP, either to help in the purchase of your next PSP or to simply pad the wallet: Repeat after me: eBay (http://www.ebay.com) is the seller's friend. If you have a broken PSP, chances are that there is some cocky technician obsessed with buying things on eBay who will be willing to spend some money on your PSP just to see whether he can resurrect it. A quick search on eBay for "broken PSP" will turn up lots of people just like this. If you filter your search results to include completed auctions, you can see what people were willing to pay for these. Mantra #2: people pay more for parts than they do for an entire PSP. If you as an individual decided to build your own PSP from scratch, you would quickly discover that all the necessary parts would cost you more than buying it from Sony. Why? Because Sony is a big corporation with the resources to buy in serious bulk, which helps drive the prices down on the materials. You are just you with a dead PSP. However, there are probably lots of other people in similar situations to yours who still think they can fix their broken PSP with that magic part. Pop open your PSP [Hack #8] and carefully remove any parts that aren't broken. Sell the screen. Sell the control pad. Sell the earphones. Sell every bit you can. Make sure you say that you cannot guarantee that any of these items will actually work. It won't matter. Someone will buy them. When you're auctioning off all these items, make sure that you offer to sell and ship them internationally. PSPs may be more expensive outside your home country (and sometimes harder to come by), so if you are selling parts that may help repair some poor Brit's ailing PSP that she imported from Japan before the European release of the PSP, she will be likely to pay more than possible U.S. customers. Make sure you point out to them that the same high taxes for importing a fully functional PSP won't apply to the parts you are selling. Make sure your auction states that the buyer pays for the actual shipping cost.
If you don't want to pay eBay's fees, you could try to barter or sell your dead PSP or its parts on Craigslist.org (http://www.craigslist.org/). If, on the other hand, you are a wealthy person who has five or more PSPs lying about and you don't want to soil yourself by using eBay or Craigslist, there are other things you can do with your dead PSP. 1.11.2. Uses for Your Dead PSP Here's a short, no-frills list: Use your dead PSP as a stylish paperweight. Or a stylish doorstop. Gut the PSP, seal the case with a watertight adhesive like the silicone used in fish tanks, fill it with water, and add Sea Monkeys. Watch 'em grow! Gut it and seal the case with a watertight adhesive. Cut the screen section out of the faceplate and leave the space where the screen was out and open. Drill small holes in the back of the PSP for drainage. Fill your deceased PSP with soil and the seeds of your favorite small flower or grass. Water and watch 'em grow! Voilà! Your own stylish Manhattan apartmentsized garden! Three words: PSP hockey puck. Use the dead PSP to test the moral fiber of your friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Leave it lying around and watch to see whether anyone nicks it! People repellant: sure, it may be broken, but nobody else has to know. Put those earphones in and walk around town ignoring people as you please, pretending that you are in your own little portable music world, impervious to their intrusive "Can I interest you in taking a brief survey?" types of questions. This is also a good way to listen in on unsuspecting suspects when you start up your own private detective agency. Find a really small, portable color TV. Remove all of its insides. Gut the PSP. Squeeze the TV's innards into the gutted PSP's case. Cause a media storm with your announcement that you hacked the first TV tuner for the PSP!
Think of your dead PSP as a craft project waiting to happen. Be creative and have fun! The important thing is to make sure that you aren't focusing on your recent loss. Life goes on. |
