So I talked in this past weeks podcast about having taken both the PSP and the iPod video with us on holiday to Disney. I thought I'd post as well for those who only read the blog a little bit about the experience (the video in this post was shot just before we went on holiday).
The iPod video is a great little device. It just feels right when you're holding it. It is incredibly portable when compared to the PSP. The quality of the video was suprisingly really good. Best of all, my whole family, myself included, loved that you could take a lot of content with you. We'd loaded it up with a dozen video items ranging from movies to download video-casts. My children had Cinderella, Garfield and Scooby-Doo all onboard. Now that said, it wasn't a slam dunk. The issue...you have all this great content, but battery life is short. We got between 2 and 2.5 hours before the unit was totally drained.
The PSP is awesome as well. I like the solid feel it has and the screen size is a lot better for watching video. You can keep the device in your lap and still see the video content without issue. As well you can game when you aren't in the mood to watch video or listen to music. The battery lasts a lot longer - I didn't have to charge the PSP once on our week long trip and we watched video and gamed on and off. The other really great thing was that I was able to use the wireless internet access provided at the hotel via the PSP. But the PSP is not a slam dunk either. You have lots of battery life and a great screen, but the onboard storage is limited. I had a 1GB Memory Stick Duo Pro (damn Sony....can you please stop releasing so many different kinds of memory sticks!) and we had three movies on it. They had to be converted to a lower quality so they each came in at about 300MB. The iPod video were done at the top quality possible and we 1GB each.
So where does that leave us? I love each device. They seem to each have their sweet spot. I'd love to own both. Alas, many people can't or won't do that. So how to choose. I'd set the video aspect of the two devices aside and ask "What do you want to do more - game or listen to music?" If gaming is key, go for the PSP. If music is your thing and you don't have an interest in gaming then go for the iPod. If video is your thing....well, despite the great screen which makes the PSP seem a natural for video, I'd have to say go for the iPod video. The reason for that is the sheer amount of content you can take. Until UMDs or memory sticks drop in price, you can't beat the iPod's 60GB storage. Sure the battery life is limiting, but I'm sure a 3rd party party supplimentaly battery charger isn't far off. As well, Apple seems to be developing a solid distribution for video, they make it totally simple to get content on and off the device. The PSP, while I have no trouble converting and getting video on to it, would be considered a bit more challenging than the video iPod.
Nice review. Can you post a video of your ipod playing video? I would like to see what it looks like.
Thank You,
Raj Merdu
Posted by: Raj | November 13, 2005 at 07:26 AM
Nice but i am in a confusion, i want to get an ipod video, i love music and i love watching movies but just to be sure, is ipod worth it because i heard that there is a new release soon to come and then there is the thing with psp having wireless internet! what do you think is the right choice if you were in my shoes because sometimes i want to play but i rarely do on the go because i move a lot but i love music more and movies to!? so confused ! help?
Posted by: saheb | December 13, 2005 at 09:18 PM