PSP Audio

Audio player: Audio files with following formats supported.

o MP3: (.mp3) MPEG-1 Part 3 Layer 3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3)

o AAC: (.mp4, .m4a, or .3gp) MPEG-2 Part 7
o ATRAC:
o ATRAC3:
o ATRAC3+: ATRAC3PLUS
o WAVE: (.wav)

In directory /PSP/MUSIC/ of the Memory Stick, you can make as many sub-directories as you want and place
music files (.mp3, .mp4, .m4a, .3gp, .wav) inside those sub-directories (but only one layer deep). The directory
becomes the equivalent to a GROUP inside the PSP and you can turn on the GROUP mode, thus only songs in that
GROUP are played. In the XMB navigational menu, a GROUP (directory) looks like a 3D box, and the name of
the box is the name of the directory on the Memory Stick. To jump to the next group or previous group, just select
the "previous group" and "next group" icons when in playback mode. (Be sure that you pressed the triangle button
to get these options).

MP3 Playlists on PSP

The PSP actually supports .m3u playlists. These playlists are nothing more than text files (but with file extension .m3u) with
the names of the music files to be played listed top to bottom. Note that playlists must reside in GROUP directories and not
the main/PSP/MUSIC/ directory. Once placed there, the name of the GROUP is not the name of the directory, but the name
of the playlist file (without the .m3u extension of course). The playlist must only list files in the directory it resides in, so you
can't include songs from other GROUPs. Once a directory in a playlist, only songs from the list show up for the GROUP.
You can only have one playlist per GROUP, so if you have more than one of them in the directory, only the first one will be
accepted. In addition, the regular "mp3" GROUP logo is replaced with a "m3u" logo. (Unless, you have to add a picture in to
the mp3 files, as described below).

Adding Pictures to .MP3 audio files

You can add images or pictures inside each .mp3 file, so that the image shows up when playing inside the PSP. If there are
multiple pictures, only the first one will be shown. Just obtain a good .mp3 ID3V2 editor that supports the PIC option. Sony's
Connect.com even offers a free Sonic Stage software that allows you to do this. If you are using other software, make sure
the description is empty for the PIC (or the PSP won't show you the picture). The picture can be in .BMP, .PNG, or .JPG
format but it must not be too big in dimension (something smaller than 431x631 or equivalent in total area). If they don't
show up, you need to resize the pic smaller. If you are taking digital pictures using 1 Megapixel cameras, you need to get a
paint program to resize them. Most mobile cell phone digital cameras supporting 300k resolution seem to work fine. You can
even search sites selling CD's for the pictures. The picture inside the first file (in alphabetical order) in a GROUP sub-
directory will actually be inside the picture of the GROUP 3D box. If you have playlists, on the other hand, the picture from
inside the first listed mp3 file will be inside the GROUP's 3D box icon.
ATRAC3 and ATRAC3PLUS

The PSP supports Atrac3 and Atrac3Plus music formats (Sony's proprietary audio format) on both the UMD and Memory
Stick Duo. For Memory Sticks, Atrac uses MagicGate functionality, so you must use special software to copy over songs to
the Memory Stick. Sony's Connect.com has SonicStage that supports this format. To make it work, simply plug in a Memory
Stick Duo into the PSP, and connect the PSP to your computer using the USB cable. Enable the USB Connection from PSP,
and SonicStage will recognize the attached PSP via USB port. Note that at this moment, only Memory Stick Duo (similar to
the one that came with the Value Pack), and not Memory Stick Pro Duo (those supporting high capacities) is supported. You
can use SonicStage to convert files to Atrac3 or Atrac3Plus formats by right-clicking on the songs from the "My Library"
tab. SonicStage will merge the two files (pre-converted and converted) into one entry in the scroll list after conversion. To
remove the pre-converted file, right-click on the entry and select "Properties", then select the "File Info" tab. From there,
select the pre-converted format and click on the "Delete File" button. To transfer the ATRAC file to the Memory Stick Duo,
right-click on the entry and select "Transfer To->Memory Stick (PSP)" menu option. This menu option will only appear if
your PSP with Memory Stick Duo is attached (and USB connection turn on) via the USB port. You have the option to create
new groups (like directories or folders) to place your song. Note that for ATRAC3 and ATRAC3PLUS songs, the bitrate can
be seen in the playback mode (it substitutes the MP3 icon). In addition, groups (boxes) don't display M3U or MP3 logo for
ATRAC songs (assuming the first song in the group has no album image).

Here is a breakdown of the directory structure for ATRAC song files when transferred to the PSP Memory Stick Duo. Bold
are directories. Italic are files.

 /HIFI
oA3xxxxxx.MSA
ATRAC3 or ATRAC3PLUS song files
oGPxxxxx.MSF
ATRAC3 or ATRAC3PLUS group info and names
oPBLIST.MSF
oGPLIST.MSF
oMGCRL.MSF
o0001000A.MSF
 /CONTROL
o NAME.MSF
 /CONTROL/PACKAGES
o DEVICE.SAL
 /CONTROL/PACKAGES/PKGxxxxx
o package.xml
 Song information in XML format similar in function to ID3V2 tags

Adding Pictures to ATRAC3 and ATRAC3PLUS song files

You can add pictures to ATRAC songs via the Sonic Stage (version 3 or higher) software from Connect.com. Simply enter
the "My Library" tab and right-click on the song entry and select "Properties". From there, select "Track Info" tab and there
is an "Add..." button to add your pictures. You may need to use images that are not too large for it to show up on the PSP
(similar to MP3 songs). Note that you cannot add pictures to your ATRAC files once it is on the Memory Stick Duo, so add
the pictures before you transfer it to the PSP. If the first song for an ATRAC group has an album image, then that image will
show up in the Group (box) icon similar to MP3 Groups.