Thursday Sony will launch their much anticipated Playstation Portable (PSP) which many have said is the next generation of portable gaming. It also includes support for MPEG4 video encoded movies, as well as audio MP3 files. From the reviews I’ve read, it’s been given high marks for gaming and been knocked for it’s support for video. From the Washington Post review:

As a portable game machine, it’s a peerless piece of work, combining sharp graphics, deep game play and easy online connectivity. As a multimedia gadget, however, it’s a dud.

The review goes on to point out the lack of support Sony gave to make video and audio easy. For instance, it doesn’t come bundled with a USB cable as well as a puny memory stick, incapable of storing video and audio files. It also lacks any PC software to make it easy to transfer video and audio to the PSP.

Sajeeth Cherian, the creative talent behind Videora, is trying to make it easier to use the PSP as a media device. His new freeware software, PSP Video 9, looks like something Sony should have bundled with the PSP. PSP Video 9 will automatically transcode a video file into the proper format for the PSP and transfer it. It also has integration with his BitTorrent software, Videora, so that you can download and transcode all automatically.

I’ve been wondering what my rationale would be to stand in line Thursday to get a PSP.