The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a handheld console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005(NTSC region), and in the PAL region on September 1, 2005.

The PlayStation Portable is the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, robust multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, other PSPs, and the Internet.

Sales of the PSP have (with cyclical exceptions) lagged behind its main competitor, the Nintendo DS. Nevertheless, the console is "the most successful non-Nintendo handheld game system ever sold". After the release of a remodeled, slimmer, and lighter version of the PlayStation Portable, titled Slim & Lite, in early September 2007, sales quadrupled in the United Kingdom the following week and increased by nearly 200% in North America for the month of October. The Slim & Lite had a minor redesign including a new screen and inbuilt microphone, and has since been followed by the PSP Go.

PSP-2000: The PSP-2000 is the first redesign of the PlayStation Portable. At E3 2007, Sony released information about a slimmer and lighter version of the PlayStation Portable. The new PSP was announced to be 33% lighter and 19% slimmer than the original PSP system. The model numbers were changed to PSP-2000, following the previous region-based numbering scheme.

PSP-3000: In comparison to the PSP-2000, the PSP-3000 (marketed in PAL areas as "PSP Slim & Lite" and still marketed as PSP in North America and Japan) has an improved LCD screen with an increased color range, five times the contrast ratio, half the pixel response time to reduce ghosting and blurring effects, a new sub-pixel structure, a microphone, a new disc tray design, new button designs and logos, and anti-reflective technology to improve outdoor playability. It can also output all games by component or composite using the video out cable.

PSP Go: The PSP Go was revealed on May 30, 2009 in the June episode of the PlayStation Network online magazine Qore and was later officially announced on June 2, 2009 at E3 2009. The PSP Go features Bluetooth functionality, a smaller 3.8 inch screen and weighs 43% less than the original PSP. Instead of the UMD drive as found on previous models, the PSP Go has 16 GB of internal flash memory and a Memory Stick Micro port that accepts cards up to 16 GB as opposed to Memory Stick Duo.

PSP - Technical Specifications

Video: MPEG-4 (aka MP4), AVI

Aside from movie and music videos available commercially on UMD, the PSP can also play video files from the Memory Stick. These files must be in MP4 or AVI format.
Music: MP3 ATRAC MP4 WAV WMA

Music can come on UMD. You can also load up your own music to play, as long as it's in one of the formats listed. You may not be able to play some of the file formats if you're using a Memory Stick Pro Duo, though; only the Memory Stick Duo is compatible with all file formats.

Released Free to Try Software

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