One complaint I had in my review of the Sony PlayStation Portable was the lack of multimedia management software out of the box. Luckily, while we wait for Sony to deliver some sort of management/content conversion tool, RnSK Softronics has released intelligent Picture and Sound Pusher (aptly named iPSP) for both MacOS X and Windows.

Originally iPSP was a product exclusive to the Macintosh OS X platform. What made (and still does) the software so unique was the iLife compatibility, which lets users integrate their iPhoto and iTunes content with their PSP. The software also uses a multi-format, queue-based video converter that lets users incorporate a slew of video content to their PSP. The software became quite frankly the must-have PSP application.

Recently, the folks at RnSK Softronics released a Windows PC version of iPSP. The PC version has all of the features of its MacOS X counterpart, but instead of using iPhoto, the software facilitates the transfer of images with a few simple clicks. Since I am a PC owner, the review will focus on the Windows version of the software.

The first thing iPSP does upon boot-up is to automatically backup your PSP game saves to your hard drive. The game saves are then archived by date in your system, which is pretty handy for people who want to revisit a particular save point.

Transferring videos to your PSP is also an easy process thanks to iPSP. In order for your PSP to play back the video on your Memory Stick Duo, the file needs to be in the MPEG-4 format. iPSP does a great job converting your MPEG files (.mpg), Windows Video files (.avi), QuickTime files (.mov), Windows Media files (.wmv), DVD Video Object files (.vob), Digital Video files (.dv) and High Definition Video (.m2t) into the PSP-recognizable format. Read more…

The “For the Gamer” column is a weekly article that I write for [here] magazine based out of New Brunswick, Canada.