One of the many retro consoles getting extra love this year is the Sony PSP, a remarkable, advanced handheld for its time that the younger generation is re-exploring, all thanks to its physical media and mixed entertainment offerings, likely thanks to Sony's announcement of stopping physical media alongside the growing trend of handheld gaming.
This development is being called the PSPMAN, created by Obsolete Sony, a publication dedicated to creating content about Sony products, alongside a recent launch of a physical book. They know their stuff, to say the least. PSPMAN is a homebrew FLAC and MP3 music player made specifically for the Sony PSP. It plays music locally from the Memory Stick and organises up to 1,000 tracks into Songs, Albums, Artists, Folders, Favourites, Recent, and Playlists. It also works with the PSP Go.
The public alpha is live, and it supports stereo 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC and CBR and VBR MP3 files up to 320 kbps. It also reads M3U and M3U8 playlists and displays embedded JPEG and PNG cover artwork.
Eddie states that he "wanted it to feel at home on the PSP. The screen layout takes its cues from later Walkman players, with navigation built around the D-pad, face buttons, and shoulder buttons. Browsing an album, choosing a track, and opening its artwork should feel natural on the hardware. Cassette mode came from the same attention to the screen. A standard compact cassette is approximately 100 mm wide; the display on a PSP-2000 or PSP-3000 is about 95 mm wide. The cassette appears almost life-size. That was too perfect not to use. Its reels turn while the music plays, and pressing left or right on the D-pad switches between five cassette colors."
This has gone down incredibly well with PSP fans, with over 5,000 retro gamers downloading it and turning the PSP into a dedicated Walkman, yet again. The fact it can organise your modern songs, put them in albums, you can add album art, sync it with modern headphones and more on a 21-year-old piece of technology is no doubt a bunch of nostalgic fun, and that's the exact reason Eddie made this a reality in his own refined way.
The Public Alpha is available to download today from Obsolete Sony's Official website; just make sure you have a PSP Memory Stick available to install your MP3's on.
