Firmware 4.05 will have new music playback visualizers

by Alan Tsang { Jul 13th 2008 at 9:15PM }

According to Playstation.Blog, firmware 4.05 will be arriving shortly bringing new visualizers during music playback. Nothing else has been disclosed other than a tease of "other features." Some of us here use our PSP as our primary music player, so this new update will spice things up a bit.

Update: Firmware 4.05 includes two new visualizers, one if you have a wallpaper and one if you don't. If you don't have a wallpaper, the waves you see in the background are reduced to one. If you do a have a wallpaper, a water rippling effect can be seen on top of your image. Overall, very underwhelming.

Tags: 4.05, firmware, firmware-update, network-update

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

b. dash @ Jul 13th 2008 10:15PM

they need to hurry up and add divx support

mcchris @ Jul 13th 2008 10:36PM

How can you use your PSP as your music player?? I HATE the fact that you can't have subfolders for albums within folders for artists. Unless I'm missing something..........

Saigon @ Jul 13th 2008 11:18PM

I have an ipod, but I use my psp as my primary music player. I carry my psp around with me alot, so I don't like to carry my ipod as well.

I'm not sure why you would need an album subfolder within a artist folder, it doesn't make sense to me, because you would have multiple copies of tracks. I, and I guess most other people just put their albums into the music folder, and that's it.

What I want from Sony is to allow me to search through my music, have different playlists, add FLAC support(I need this the most), and allow me to customize my equalizers.

"Pretty sure most of us have accepted the fact that no one wants to develop big games"

Not true. Look at Japan. Locoroco 2, Patapon 2, Dissidia, and Birth By Sleep are games I'm looking forward to.

Mr.U2 @ Jul 13th 2008 11:54PM

mcchris - I agree with you completely. I wish that Sony would add sub folders. It would really organize things.

Saigon - I would want sub folders mainly to organize music better and keep it less cluttered. In-stead of having something like : Artist A, Album A
Artist A, Album B
Artist A, Album C
Artist B, Album A, etc. It would be something like:

Artist A
- (subfolder) Album A, B, and C

Artist B
- Album A, B, and C

and so on. So it would be nice for some people but for people with a small collection of songs, it wouldn't be necessary.

LM2007 @ Jul 14th 2008 10:33AM

For every group or singer i have a folder, i don't know if that;s what you meant.

Lars @ Jul 14th 2008 2:46PM

I actually prefer my PSP for music over anything else. Well, actually I mostly use it for podcasts. It excells above the competition in that respect because it can stream the RSS feeds without saving them, or auto-download while you sleep.

Yeah, I wish they had subfolder support too. Seems like it wouldn't be that hard for them either. But it's also not a huge deal to me, unless they add a hard drive or something... then I'd need better organization. At the root level I just name all my folders by artist and then album. So It'll show up like this:

Weezer - Blue
Weezer - Pinkerton
etc.

On my computer I name all the album subfolders by artist then album so I can just copy them to my PSP without having to reorganize it. So it's like:

Weezer\Weezer - Blue\
Weezer\Weezer - Pinkerton\

About time they gave us some new visualizations though. Keep it up Sony! Now bring the PS3 some new visualizations and Skype!

richard @ Jul 15th 2008 12:37AM

ummm you can, I use subfolders for cds

michael000 @ Jul 13th 2008 10:39PM

I second that, DIVX/XVID support is the single biggest thing they need to get done on the PSP.

Pretty sure most of us have accepted the fact that no one wants to develop big games for the PSP. The least they could do is make the PSP a COMPLETE handheld media device. The current video support for the PSP now is a joke.

Hashbrown Hunter @ Jul 14th 2008 2:08AM

Or how about free the PSP from all those severely lame video resolution restrictions!

I want my video podcasts!

andwhyisit @ Jul 13th 2008 10:46PM

I doubt divX support would be that big a thing when it is so easy to convert them to mp4. What is this rubbish about in-game XMB? The PSP doesn't have the ram for it. The playstation store on PSP and a better flash player are the only things left to look forward to I would think. We already have everything else we could ever need.

Vidaluko @ Jul 13th 2008 11:31PM

I agree, the video format for the PSP is easy to get it, more with a lot of converters around there, is not a big problem...

I would like a flash player update, more subfolders in the folders, in music and photos, radio player while browsing, and to arrange the music/fotos in other orders, not just the most recent, I want abc, size, etc.

Extinction @ Jul 14th 2008 12:09AM

The slims have twice the ram as the originals, and games dont use any of it. I'd kill for in-game custom soundtracks and XMB

linebeginstoblur @ Jul 13th 2008 11:53PM

I'm hoping one of those "other features" is the PSP Store that you can access ON the PSP. Come on, E3!!

Hashbrown Hunter @ Jul 14th 2008 2:09AM

Definitely. If they don't announce it at E3 or maybe at TGS than I will be very, very unhappy with the Big S

linebeginstoblur @ Jul 13th 2008 11:54PM

I'm hoping one of those "other features" is the PSP Store that you can access ON the PSP. Come on, E3!!

brgers @ Jul 14th 2008 12:04AM

Firmware Now live! i cant install becuase my batterie is to low :|

Blooper62 @ Jul 14th 2008 12:23AM

lol, It seems that they added one new visualizer and it's basically the wave. Hopefully this update paved the way for something big that's going to be announced at E3 or otherwise its a useless update as far as I can see.

Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Jul 14th 2008 1:13AM

I also would REALLY like subfolders, why have they not been able to do this!?

: (

MedHead @ Jul 14th 2008 1:14AM

The new visualizer works in two ways: when wallpaper is enabled, a ripple effect plays over the wallpaper image. When no wallpaper is displayed, the waves in the background move to the bottom of the screen.

Quest @ Jul 14th 2008 1:29AM

@ Extinction:
When the lite came out, the RAM was going to be used to shorten load times for games. No one I know, nor do I, have a lite, so I don't know if that actually happened.
Anyone?

Extinction @ Jul 14th 2008 3:01AM

It's "supposed" to do that, but has barely any effect. I'd be willing to trade the cache for in-game music

Don @ Jul 16th 2008 12:44AM

Scroll down a bit:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6177882/index.html

I've never noticed much improvement in decreased load times personally, but I don't play sports and have no RPG games...

Alien @ Jul 14th 2008 2:37AM

Ok ... well I guess this update is not for me then >_

Dumpertaker @ Jul 14th 2008 2:47AM

Totally agree about the subfolders on the PSP for music, would be handy on videos too when a take a couple of series of shows with me.

I do not really see the point in regards to visualisations for music player on the PSP, I only listen to music on mine when I'm on the move, and I don't think my pocket has eyes...

Jacksons @ Jul 14th 2008 3:55AM

Free stuff!

Sean jdahsdka @ Jul 14th 2008 8:08AM

I love my psp, but I hate it for music. I really don't even know why, but its just kind of big for me to be taking everywhere, because I listen to music any chance I can, and the battery life isn't that good.

Errol @ Jul 14th 2008 8:12AM

I have no music in my library as of now, why should i need this update?

sobewan @ Jul 14th 2008 8:30AM

just got 4.05 plz tell me what else it does than a visualiser cause this is stupid if it doesnt have any thing else

Espiox @ Jul 14th 2008 8:34AM

I found out what the "other features" are. It updates the Japan-only TV mode with a couple features (timed recordings, I think).

sobewan @ Jul 14th 2008 9:14AM

thats what i hate. japanese get more because they sell more over there. give us a break. give us the ability to download tv shows onto our psp. or download demos from psn. or the ever elusive in game screen shots... put that in there. not just one stupid visualiser and be done with it.
we want to be able to im, or be able to not have to convert 'the worlds' of mp4 or avi files into something soo specific. i want to watch podcasts i can put on my psp. i want to watch youtube... i know it might be too much to ask but it can be done. i am calling people all the time with skype. i play wipeout online and i listen to my music as a beat the pants off of people.
i download and watch podcasts. so sony can do it, its the factor of playign their cards right. Yes give what the Japanese want, ok thats fine, but hire some american marketers to find out what the american people want... then do it. we want more features, as the japanese have more acessories.

pat1202003 @ Jul 14th 2008 9:27AM

OMG this update almost sucks as much as 4.00! ONE just one stupid visualizer. They said "visualizers" WITH A "s" !!!!!

PFC Hudson @ Jul 14th 2008 11:42AM

There is more than one visualsation, depending on what you're using as the wallpaper.

Lars @ Jul 14th 2008 2:50PM

God, people like patDecSecond2003 really piss me off. Try to be a little less jaded for Christ's sake.

I remember the good ol days where portables were the size of shoeboxes and sucked, and what came out of the box was what you got. (I'm looking at you, GameBoy)

pat1202003 @ Jul 14th 2008 7:45PM

Well excuse me! I'm just saying that the PS Blog should of said there was only going to be one visualizer instead of getting our hopes up thinking there were going to be more than one visualizer. And btw it's pat1202003 not patDecSecond2003.

Biks @ Jul 14th 2008 9:36AM

the only thing tht need to spice up is the freakin volume of PSP.. its so low..how can one possibly use it as a music player unless at home... outside its the whole damn disco of traffic, crowd and ur music..

LM2007 @ Jul 14th 2008 10:38AM

They should do something about the folders and how is played, i'm not sure if it's me or the psp just don't do that yet but i want folders to randomly play, i mean like..

let's say i have a folder called maddona, Korn, Metallica and i want that it plays one song from maddona, then from metallica..randomly.

dave @ Jul 14th 2008 12:14PM

if anyone wants to convert their avi with divx/xvid, have a look on google for ripbot264

Richard Terry @ Jul 14th 2008 10:19PM

Wheee another wasted update!

Seriously though, what gives with all the minor tweaks no one asked for lately?

yashamaru @ Jul 15th 2008 5:53AM

since most people dont read i'll post this fyi

"If you do a have a wallpaper"

skate6566 @ Jul 16th 2008 5:21PM

wow. I went from CFW for this???
Oh well, now if it bricks, it's sony's problem.

Dylan, kool aussie @ Jul 18th 2008 12:41AM

What does the folder name have to be? I downloaded it, it has the "EBOOT.pbp" crap, so what doe sthe folder name have to be for it to work?

sachin @ Sep 5th 2008 1:17PM

im reallly sick the fact u can play only mp4 video.....i read a comment earlier that its easy to convert to mp4 format.....IT TAKES A HELL OF TIME JUS TO CONVERT ONE FILE.....BY THE TIME U FINISH IT...U'D ASK URSELF "IS IT WORTH IT??"

n i also agree with the subfolders....each song even of the same artist r different...so i need more folders for dividin them...