Very nice. It definitely brings back some of the integrated design that I loved in the magazine.

Unfortunately though, psp-specific magazines don’t tend to get picked up in large numbers. I dabbled with the concept for a while, but found that there just isn’t the audience. There’s a psychological barrier to actually getting these images onto the PSP – it’s not as straight forward as it should be.

My first suggestion would be to provide the content in a manner that PSPs natively understand. I understand that you’re wanting to do a quick test, so you are likely envisioning a user to first download the content onto their computer and then transfer it over to the PSP via USB.

That’s cool, and you’re definitely not alone on this.

I just don’t use my PSP like that, as I’m mostly using my PC for working and in VMs and such. I’d prefer to grab the content direct to the device, rather than using my PC as an intermediary.

The good :

* The formatting was perfect for the widescreen format of the PSP. Once I got the files, I viewed each image without trouble. Looks perfect.

* I also dig the artistry in the article quite a lot, you guys always do a great job. The wildness of the text is somewhat erratic, leaving my reading of the actual content a bit skewed. Maybe that’s personal preference.

The bad :

* If you’re going to do PC->PSP content, then all is good. If you want PSP users to log onto your site, then a zipfile should be fine as long as your webserver is sending the correct mime-type. I think the preference is to use RSS to distribute this stuff, but I’d check psp-hacks.net for that sort of detail.

* Have you experimented with just cycling all of the images into a little movie file? I don’t know if that would be a good way or not, nor do I know if it’s your aim to do it like that…maybe just something fun to try.

The ugly :

* URL Entry : The browser’s text-entry screen does not allow capitals when entering URLs. So if you want a PSP to get to the files easily, a simpler URL without capitals would do great.

* Zipfiles : I believe the standard PSP e-book format is in a zipfile so you’re fine there. I’d check around to determine how to distribute it properly for easy download in the PSP Web browser.

Hope this helps. Love your site, and love the experimentation.

Rgs,
covert.c
(just move to Sydney from Canada)

James: Yep, me too. Having the articles up on a web site is great, but I’ve really missed the control print media gives. Besides, while I’m aware of a lot of devices can now read and display text directly from the internet, I wanted to create something you could take anywhere, and savour. Even today I showed the article to a guy I met up with for lunch and it felt as natural (and as strange!) as passing a book or magazine to him.

Covert C: Whoa! That’s awesome feedback. Indeed, some of the layout is a little too erratic in that first article, with some unusual breaks. The second piece I’m working on now will use that probably to better effect.

I haven’t played around much with RSS feeds (despite that automatic link at the bottom of this page), so I’ll certainly head to psphacks.net and check it all out. To be honest I never took much time to get to know my PSP when I first bought it; something I rue now.

Thanks for the comments about the site, btw. And, hey, welcome to Australia! :)

I enjoyed reading your blog, if you get a chance check out my website.

Hey: I did check out your website. It was very corporate and I didn’t get very far without having to become a subscriber, but it seems like a giant initiative in that undercover Napster-ish fashion. What got you working the angles?

way to go.
http://www-psp-games.com