I can't get music to play on my Sony PSP?

Ok I am about ready to throw my Sony PSP out the window. i have done everything your directions have said and i cannot get music to play on it. i know it stores it to my memory card because it uses up the memory. i made the music folder and dragged the mp3 files into it but it refuses to play on my PSP. i do not know what else to do. please help me..

Dave's Answer:

This is a distressingly common question here at Ask Dave Taylor so I thought it would be useful to detail exactly how to get music onto your PSP and play it.

Step One: Make MP3 Format Audio Files!

First off, you need to have music in MP3 format (the PSP supports other music formats, but the majority of reports I get are that they either don't work or are quite difficult to set up). If you are ripping your own personal music CDs, you might well find that your music library is in a different audio format (Apple prefers AAC and Windows Media Player prefers WMA format, for example).

Here's how to tweak each of these programs to save your future rips in MP3 format:

• MP3 audio CD rips from Apple iTunes
• MP3 audio CD rips from Windows Media Player

If you find yourself with music files that are in the wrong format, then you need to use a format translator. Two applications that look like they'd do a good job in this department are Switch (for Windows) and Music Man (for Mac OS X). In fact, you can read a tutorial about Switch here: How to convert WMA audio files into MP3 audio files.

Once you have the files in the correct format, check that they work properly by double-clicking on one of them. Your preferred audio player should launch and, hopefully, you should hear music out of your computer speakers.

Step two: Connect!

Hook up your Sony PSP to your computer via a USB cable. Turn on the PSP and put it in "USB CONNECT" mode (it should display the words "USB CONNECT" on the PSP display during the entire time you're transferring files, and plug it in if you don't have a fully charged battery).

If your computer complains that you are connecting a high-speed USB device on a low-speed USB port, try unplugging it (which is to say, take your PSP out of "USB CONNECT" mode, then unplug the cable from the PSP) and plugging it into a different USB port. Somewhere on your computer you have a higher-speed port, which you should certainly use if you can. If not, or if you can't figure out which port is USB 2.0, then you should be able to safely ignore the warning message and proceed anyway. Once you rehook up your PSP, do make sure you remember to put it back into "USB CONNECT" mode).

Your PC or Mac should just magically show a new removable hard disk on the desktop (or, if needed, go to My Computer to find it). On a Mac it'll probably show up as a device called "Removable Drive", but on a PC it can show up as drive E:, F:, G: or whatever else is the next available drive name on your computer. If it doesn't show up and you're running Windows XP, then you might need to search for the proper driver, which is hopefully an option. If you're running an earlier version of Windows, you're kinda on your own because earlier versions don't support pluggable hard drives. There's an untested Windows98 driver you can download from Interia.pl, but I haven't heard from anyone whether it actually works or not.

Once your PSP shows up on your computer, you should be able to navigate the different directories to find a folder called MUSIC. That's where you want to drag and drop your MP3 files, so do so now, realizing that each music file typically takes up 2-3MB of space, so the default 32MB Memory Stick Duo that came with the Sony PSP is only going to be able to hold about one CD of music before it's full, and that's assuming you don't have any game saves on it. Instead, you might consider buying a bigger Memory Stick: I have a 512MB one that gives me plenty of space and it didn't cost much (Amazon.com, for example, sells this funky green 512MB PSP-compatible Memory Stick for less than $40, with free shipping).

(If you don't have a "MUSIC" folder on your PSP then you might need to have the PSP unit itself reformat the memory stick (rather than your PC) so that all of the folders are setup properly. You can learn how to do this here: reformat your Sony PSP memory stick)

Step Three: Listen!

Once you've copied your music files onto your Sony PSP device, you should be done. Take the PSP out of "USB CONNECT" mode, then unplug the cables, hook up headphones so you can hear the PSP audio, and then go to the MUSIC area on the PSP.

One of the items listed in "MUSIC" is something called Memory Stick. Your songs are in that folder. To get to them, move the highlight bar to "Memory Stick" and press the "X" button:

You can see the "X button on this photo: it's the lowest of the four buttons on the right side control area.

You should then move into the Memory Stick music area and see all of your MP3 files. Click on one to play it!

Hopefully these detailed instructions will help you avoid tossing your PSP out the window. If not, well, let me know when you'll be tossing it and maybe I can catch it and use it as another test device. :-)

Updated to explain what to do if you don't have a "MUSIC" folder, based on comments added to this article.

More Useful iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help Articles:

✔ Deleted iTunes library but still have tracks on iPod...

Hi Dave, I have been following your newsletter for awhile now. Most of your topics are way over my head but very interesting....

✔ How do I fix the time / date on my Apple iPod Touch?

I pulled my iTouch [ed note: "iPod Touch", actually] out of the drawer and when it was fully charged I realized that the...

✔ Can I remove songs from an unsync'd iPod Touch?

My son has just come home from his uncle's house with a new iPod. Very nice. Full of a wide variety of music,...

✔ Get started with iTunes Match!

I have a huge library of music, Dave, and want to be able to enjoy it on all my Apple devices, but am...

✔ Can I pre-order a music CD from the Apple iTunes Store?

I have a bunch of bands and musicians I follow faithfully and when I see that there's a new CD coming out from...

Let's stay in touch!

Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!

Categorized: iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help (Article 4705, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: psp memory stick, psp music, sony psp
Previous: How do I change my password on AOL?
Next: How can I get to the Internet from my Sony PSP?

Reader Comments To Date: 206

name said, on May 17, 2007 7:35 PM:

Did You Name The Folder MUSIC with all Capitals

Mac said, on May 22, 2007 6:47 PM:

i hav limewire but wen i copied the mp3 playlist 2 the Music folder it worked, but wen i go 2 my Music file on my psp it says that there are zero tracks...plzzz help me

leira said, on May 27, 2007 10:16 PM:

how can i put songs to my mp4?? plz help me i dont know what to do..

Cory said, on May 28, 2007 5:56 AM:

Ok i do all u said and when i get to music folder it says i have 3 tracks i try to listen to them but it says my wma playback is not enable
ok so then i got to enable wma and then i have to use a connectionand then it says a connection error has occured the wlan switch is not turned on so i go turn on wlan power save is there another wlan switch in stead of WLAN power save????

Cory said, on May 28, 2007 5:59 AM:

Ok i do all u said and when i get to music folder it says i have 3 tracks i try to listen to them but it says my wma playback is not enable
ok so then i got to enable wma and then i have to use a connectionand then it says a connection error has occured the wlan switch is not turned on so i go turn on wlan power save is there another wlan switch in stead of WLAN power save????

mari said, on May 31, 2007 11:42 AM:

Thank you so much!!! This was a great help!

jacob said, on June 2, 2007 12:29 AM:

i am trying to figure out two things.

1: how do i play saved videos when it says i have none?

2: when i get on a website and it has music what program do i need to download to make them play?

Blake H said, on June 2, 2007 10:43 PM:

Im still having problems with my psp, on my xp when i go to start/computer to find where the file for the psp is the only thing that pops up is removable disk e.. but when i click it it says insert disk.. i dont have a memory card so is this a reason? and Yes i do have the psp on usb mode ive only seen that sentance about 100 time

niall said, on July 1, 2007 7:05 AM:

when i connect my psp it says plaese wait, i thought it ws the card so i used another but it still says "please wait". i waited for ages and the computer still does not recognise my psp. It was working fine last week and this is the first complaint i have had

can u help

Stephanie said, on July 3, 2007 11:07 AM:

my music is all mp3 format..and still nothing..i have done this over n over now.. when i hook it up to the pc it shows the music as there but it wont play.... i have been looking for a way to fix it for weeks now.. im gonna break the psp soon..

thx, anger management..

madison said, on July 15, 2007 6:59 PM:

works great for music, photos and videos.
thanks, guys!

Christina said, on July 17, 2007 2:41 PM:

thankya dave....the article helped a lot!!

Raul said, on July 29, 2007 2:30 PM:

I have done everything to put music on my PSP but when I want to play the song it says "Corrupted Data"

shajuan said, on July 30, 2007 8:43 PM:

how do i puts vidoes on my psp

Bruce said, on August 1, 2007 9:38 AM:

Very helpful! Thank-you!

Barbara said, on August 20, 2007 11:43 PM:

I read the instruction of how to put music on psp from computer but when I plug psp into it and go to "my computer" to see what drive it is on it is listed under "network drives" with "memory _card on Hp001871503349 (Y:) and when I click on that it says"y:\ is not accessible - an unexpected network error occurred". I have no idea what this all means.Please help as our grandson wants to listen to music on his new psp.

cld360fly said, on August 26, 2007 7:12 AM:

ok turn on your psp get a usb cable hook it up to both your psp and your computer make sure u have either 360share pro or limwire u get limewire for free by going to www.download.com or www.downloads.com then u click on the music u want make sure when somethin pops up like a rectangle scroll to the bottom and click on a folder then drag the music from the 360share or limewire to the psp rectagle k have fun listing to every song in da world!!!! haha DXDXDXDXDX

kyle said, on August 30, 2007 2:38 PM:

the music is not on my psp how do you get to folders

Josh said, on September 10, 2007 3:47 AM:

i read every single comment and i cant do any thing help me AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!! im going mad help plz!

Just me said, on November 4, 2007 1:44 AM:

I HAVE A PROBLEM THAT NOBODY HAS!!!!!! well i have a play station slim and it's driving me mad because: 1. he recognizes my memory card but it doesn't recognizes my games (and are games not from the internet) 2.my computer doesn't recognizes me the cable and if i go in my computer it still can't find it.but let the thing with the cable... why my games aren't working?why???? it isn't a play station portable without games! it's driving me mad!!!! please some help :(

Josh McCarthy said, on November 12, 2007 11:00 AM:

Hey,

I just found your website today after i had had problems getting my psp to connect to my computer. It's working now thanks to you guys. I just thought i'd say thanks a lot.
YOU GUYS ROCK!

Josh

Heather said, on November 17, 2007 4:46 PM:

how do i get my psp to play music it says that i have to enable my WMA player

bernardo said, on November 24, 2007 2:39 AM:

help dave !!!! lost my psp cd that came w/it when i bought it i dont know how to download anything w/out........ what do i do, please help!!

Shelia said, on November 30, 2007 9:49 PM:

I did everything your website says, but every time I try to go to my music it says no tracks are avilable and music cannot be played.

Shelia said, on November 30, 2007 9:59 PM:

Help!!!!!!!!!!!! I took my memory stick out of my psp and put it in my computer and put music on the memory stick and put It back into the psp. It said memory space taken, but they is no music on the psp.

Nick Strub said, on December 25, 2007 11:41 AM:

Okay. I figured out why sometimes you can't see the tracks you put on the PSP. You have to save the tracks directly under the Artist's folder. If you put another folder into the artist's folder(for me One-X(Album name)inside three days grace folder) and then the tracks inside of the Album folder then the tracks won't show up. Copy the tracks directly under the Artist's folder.

tommy said, on December 27, 2007 10:42 AM:

thank you so much it really works!!!

Maxmillion said, on December 28, 2007 9:21 AM:

Err.. Thanks, but how come when I download the song (it's in mp3 music file checked like 5 times) and when I play it on my PsP is skips to the next song and when I check the last one I was on, it says the file has been coruppted and cannot play. What's going on?

mike said, on January 9, 2008 7:33 PM:

i did everything u said i dragged to music files and made psp file. i know it is somewhere because it uses my memory stick on my psp. i go to music but it says no tracks. how do i get the music to come up? please help dave?

OB said, on January 22, 2008 6:58 AM:

Thanks, i listened to you, switched USB ports, and it worked. Thanks to you.

will said, on January 26, 2008 6:41 PM:

i tried everything you said to connect my psp to the computer but it still wont work. i've tried every port but it wont reconize my psp. my computer usually never has a problem with connecting devices. please help me.

anthony said, on February 3, 2008 6:07 PM:

my problem is that the pc gives me a copy.exe problem when trying to open my psp... i even went to gamestop to buy a cd to send saved games, movies, pictures, music etc and nothing what can i do? any thoughts send e-mail to lestat666alucard@hotmail.com i dont know if upgrading it to 3.80 would be helpful (i don't think it should matter though)

manny micheals said, on February 7, 2008 5:11 PM:

hey i have two questions. first i have windows media player so i hooked up my psp to my usb cord and tried to download music and it worked except that when i go into my music on my psp it says the artist names but it says i have no songs. if u could return my email it would be great.
my next question is you know that i told i have windows media player, well how do i get a mp3 folder, and after that how do i copy my windows media player music onto my mp3 folder?

nemmesis said, on February 9, 2008 2:12 PM:

is there sposed to be a music file in the 'psp' folder? because if there is i dont have it!

Mandy said, on March 7, 2008 7:28 PM:

Hey,
Alright I got the music on my PSP.. Your instructions work great. But now I'm stuck. No it doesn't say corrupted file.

I go to music, and my songs are there and I go to play them and this message comes up
" WMA playback is not enabled.
And I did enable it and it still doesn't work.
All I want to do is play my music. Please help. Thank you

Ted said, on March 11, 2008 2:43 PM:

I was having trouble with this myself, but then I did two things that appeared to make the difference:
1) I had one of those combination power/data cables, so I unplugged the DC power connector (yellow part)
2) I switched off the wireless antenna.

If you're having trouble, maybe try one (or both) of these.

marcus said, on April 21, 2008 8:58 AM:

my computer just dont recognise it, i plug it in with my psp set on usb mode and it beeps but comes found new hardware but i go to my computer and there is nothing, no removable storage, i have tryed everything, anyhelp???

Sabrin Khalil said, on April 21, 2008 12:21 PM:

Hy dave, i cant find my treiber Cd for Windows xb . do you know where i could ownload a triber for free?

marissa said, on April 27, 2008 2:41 PM:

i cant play my music because i dont have the enternet or the wireless router.so can you help me dave?

nick said, on May 3, 2008 1:11 PM:

i put music on my psp and it takes up space but it says theres no music.i know im doing it right because i did it on a different memory card before and it worked.how do i fix it?
please answer

mike said, on May 5, 2008 12:58 AM:

OK. i got it. for all of you who format your mem stick. do the usb connect. accept the WMA playback. if you plug your psp in to your cmp and you use programs to load the music onto your psp. persay windows media player. well what it does it make folders in your music file. well it should work in a sense but for some stupid reason it doesnt read any music in the folder. so the simple fix is to just put the exact file in the music folder. make sure its not under any artist folder or anything. heres a great example of how you should see it. just change (psp) with the removable drive it shows up as
psp:music
for me it shows up as I:music/
just drag the exact file under music and presto it will work. now can somebody figgure out why the heck it wont play any music under an artist folder? cause its stupid as hell

JAved said, on May 19, 2008 8:03 PM:

hey dav, i got one psp slim with the firmware version 3.9..and i am using windows XP home additon...but whenever i connect usb to my computer it doesn't recognize my psp. i tired every tips but can't made it to recognize...so, can you give me a way so that my pc can detect it?...is there any kind of driver I have to use? if it is then where will i able to get it...take care man!!...

JAKEUP PEPPER said, on July 5, 2008 8:44 PM:

OK DAVE TAYLOR WHAT IS EXACTLY IT SAYS "IN A MOMENT OR TWO YOUR COMPUTER TELL YOU THAT A NEW USB DEVICE HAS BEEN CONNECTED,THEN SOW YOU A NEW GENERIC HARD DRIVE, USUALLY E: OR F:.

tyler said, on July 6, 2008 4:32 PM:

how do i get tracks on my psp under music it said itunes 0 tracks and did everything you said

iola said, on July 10, 2008 10:48 AM:

do you have to get any cd or something to downlode music to my psp ?? pkz reply soon

Rhonda said, on July 10, 2008 6:03 PM:

Just a note for those who said they could see the file on the psp, but it says 0 tracks. That happened to us to because the computer was only downloading the album name, not the actual song. When you are ready to do the drag and drop, click on the album name again and then it will list the actual songs on that album that are available to be copied. They will have a little music symbol next to them. That solved that problem for us. Now for my problem...about 75% of what we copied play just fine on the psp, but the other 25% do not copy to the psp even though it says that it is copying them. Any idea why we would have partial success??? Thank you!

jason said, on July 13, 2008 6:15 AM:

Hi my names jason. I downloaded a game from rapidshare.com but when i put it on my psp it said corrupted data. Should i hack into my psp or what? PLEASE tell me. Whoever does i will give away R200. PROMISE My Email Is Jason@parow.com

Jonty said, on July 19, 2008 7:39 AM:

Hi Guys! i have psp slim , just format the memory card in psp ans then put into your pc's card reader, you will able to see music and video folder, just drag n drop and it will work. its awsum

psPnoob said, on July 28, 2008 3:22 PM:

OK GUYS AND GALS, I TOO WAS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEMS AS ALL OF YOU...IE: PSP SAYS FILE NAME BUT DISPLAYS 0 TRACKS. I figured how to get music on you PSP Memory Stick.

1.Connect you PsP via USB to computer.
2.Go in to the fold where you are trying to save your musci in.
3.Create a new fold with either the artist or album name.
4. Go into the folder where you have your music.
5. Select each mp3 file by holding down CTRL and selecting the files needed to copy.
6. Now drag and drop these files in to the fold you created on your PSP.
7. Disconnect PSP from Computer and test.

This should work cause it worked for me.

psPnoob said, on July 28, 2008 4:02 PM:

I forgot one more thing. Do not make any sub folders. The psp will not recognize sub folders.

lucas said, on August 23, 2008 1:36 AM:

hey when i try to put musicon my psp i sync it from windows media player it puts the name of the songs but when i click on them there is no music

t-man said, on September 26, 2008 1:17 AM:

Is it possibe 2 get music from download websites using your psp wireless internet?

colin said, on September 26, 2008 11:51 PM:

Hey dave how do i put videos on my psp ive got broadband but i still dont know how to put music on my psp help me

gaby said, on October 24, 2008 4:36 PM:

well, i've try everything to put music in to my psp...but still getting the cannot find specefied file....i need help...please!!!!

unknown said, on November 7, 2008 7:34 PM:

dude thank u im 12 and come on ppl if i can do it u can to well thank u i shall never 4get how to do thinz agai :)

christina castro said, on November 10, 2008 11:51 PM:

I have done all that most of these comments have said, but no such luck.

I was able to download music to my son's PSP, but I can't get the videos on or pictures.

It shows that they are being loaded on and the memorey goes away, but there are no videos and I do not know where they could be going. I did it several times and each time, the memorey space went down.

I was so happy to get the songs on, but was not able to get the others on.

Please help, I have spent the last 4 hours messing with this and am getting frustrated.

Please, I have no where else to get help

dylan said, on November 21, 2008 9:57 PM:

ok i went on and added a bunch of songs to my memory stick and when i went to go play them it only said the band name and when i clicked them it just said 0 tracks so then i did what you told someone else to do and formatted it and now when i try to put music on it it sats its filled

Sam said, on December 15, 2008 12:55 AM:

Heh... some of you are asking some really stupid questions. I mean:

"hey dave, i was wondering if there was anyway to download version 2.6 for the sony psp without connecting to the internet, because i want to be able to listen to my music while playing games, thanx"

You're asking if it's possible to download a file from the internet without using an internet connection. If common sense doesn't tell you what the answer is, then something is wrong. Not with the PSP, but with you.

Please, if you're having trouble with your PSP, by all means ask a question, but take some extra time to research your problem first. Don't type in all capitals, don't expect Dave to answer every single question. Notice how each and every single question which were in all capitals, nagging or moaning about the problem, or giving little/no information about the problem were completely ignored?

Well, thanks for giving me a chuckle for this morning anyway.

Miss Marie Rigby said, on December 16, 2008 10:30 AM:

how gay is that. i formatted and lost everything. cheers Dave. merry christmas.

Cee said, on January 1, 2009 11:41 AM:

Thank you for having this on here. I have been trying to get music on this thing for my daughter for a while now. She might not be happy when she realizes her game saves are gone, due to formatting, but she has her music!!! LOL

THANKS!!!!!!

chris said, on January 17, 2009 4:03 PM:

i have a problem under music where all the songs and album pictures are it ses 0 tracks and its all gray how do i get the tracks on the psp?

amy said, on January 23, 2009 6:49 PM:

all my psp says o track like help plezz

papin117 said, on February 4, 2009 6:27 PM:

I bought a used psp in ebay and I couldt play because need a password and the seller do not answered my emails.How can I eliminates the password?Please help me.Thamks.

stupidtechNopSP said, on February 16, 2009 11:26 PM:

a lot of Ppl seem to have the same problem do evrything right but no tracks this is first time didnt work 4 me why HASNT DAVE ANSWERED?

chris said, on February 17, 2009 3:44 PM:

i did all that but still no music

Cactus said, on February 21, 2009 9:00 PM:

lol it works for me but my psp doesnt go with what i like it will play anything except for my favorite singer, eminem. im not mad, i have an ipod but damn, i thought sony was almost full american. rap is from here, and sony wont play it? or is it just my retarded psp? anyway i want help but dont need it. im more into my ps3 anyway. and by the way, have you ever expirimented on an element mp3 player? my sister needs help with hers.

Brian said, on March 9, 2009 10:05 PM:

For all of those that can't get it to work, this may help.

The PSP can only handle a single level of subfolders under the folder "Music". ie PSP\MUSIC\ARTIST\*.mp3.

It won't work if you have additional sub-folders, ie: PSP\MUSIC\ARTIST\ALBUM\*.mp3.

Pretty lame considering this is the default format for syncing music in Windows Media, iTunes etc.

Marsha said, on March 9, 2009 11:59 PM:

Thanks Brain

Your suggestion was a big Help.

Dan said, on March 16, 2009 10:16 PM:

Dave:

You're a genius. I too was like the other person and wanting to throw my PSP out the window. You're advice was spot on about reformatting the Memory Stick. I tried everything else, but that was the one trick that helped me out.

Thanks, Man...

MEGAMANX said, on March 27, 2009 12:15 AM:

Bit rate on songs must be 128, no higher. Otherwise the files will say corrupt.

USB CABLE IS IRRELEVANT a majority of the times.

Lou Cheng tian (David) said, on May 19, 2009 9:41 PM:

I have a question to ask.
I have plenty of songs in my laptop. And i intend to transfer them into my PSP slim 8GB memory card.
But after spending alot time transfering, the psp says there are no tracks and can't play. Lucky i had not deleted the songs after transfering or i will be so dead.
Do you have any soloution or sussgestion on what i can do to getmy music transfered??? I do have music folder in my psp.

Alwood Williams said, on May 24, 2009 3:55 PM:

OK, just to clarify some details:
1) All music files need to be stored in the music sub directory; which may or maynot be under the PSP directory.
2) You may choose to save albums in this directory, but you can not use seperate subs to seperate artist, or genre.
3) If you've update system software on the PSP to 2.6 or later it should show an album cover if you seperate your albums. Which is like looking through albums at home. Also you can play WMA files which take up less room and have better audio quality.

jack said, on May 28, 2009 11:29 PM:

hey i dont now to download windoes xp

Heather said, on May 31, 2009 5:12 PM:

I have a psp 3000. I have put music on my psp but on one of my memory cards my music will only play until #9 or #10 and it won't go past that, even though it shows more songs are on there. It also shows the songs in my psp music folder.
If I try to play song #10 it just stops and then turns off. Do you know what this could be or how to fix this?

Faizan said, on July 25, 2009 1:47 AM:

Yo Dave my man! My PSP is not working. When i was installing the Lime ware 5.00 m33, when it reached 96% it displayed an error saying the installation can not be completed, It wasn't exiting so I took the battery out after that when I turn my PSP on it doesn't get on. I NEED HELP MAN!! PLEASE!!!

cam 13 said, on August 5, 2009 12:50 PM:

hey dave i a prob ok i have the usb cord and i conected it to my psp an then computer and i am trying to download music but when i download music it says commplet and when i go to the memory stick in my psp it shows the artists but it also says 0 tracks under them plz help me out man

Todd said, on August 7, 2009 5:38 PM:

Dave,
First great site, and very helpful! My problem deals with my PSP. I upload and sync files all the time with no problem, but recently I was uploading some new music and everytime I put a new folder of some band on the PSP it deleted one of my previously uploaded files. My memory stick has plenty of room. Any ideas?
Thanks

Kat Smith said, on December 5, 2009 2:18 PM:

i have done every thing you said but my keeps saying "Please Wait" what do i do?

meagan said, on December 21, 2009 7:03 AM:

i have a question... none of music files will convert to mp3 because it says they are protected by DRM... how can i get music onto my psp? Is there a way around the DRM... help??

Robert said, on January 16, 2010 7:58 AM:

Good morning Dave,
After buying my daughter her PSP 3000 I red the manual and then went online to upgrade the unit. Then enabled wma playback, Formatted the memory stick and started loading all the pictures on the memory stick and that worked perfectly, then I loaded all my music files that she loves, but there is a problem with some of the music and not the other music, that is to say, it plays the christian music fine, also some country, but with the classic rock and other country music, I get the same message "unsupported data" is the file section and click that to get to the file itself then says "WMA tracks with copyright protection cannot be played" I have tried everything, even re loading all my music and getting all the proper permission to have the songs on my computer, then loaded another song and still get the same messages, so do I need to download license management on the PSP or ? after 3 weeks of trying everything I know to do, I finally gave up and searched the internet for answers and found you, can you help with the above aforementioned? would greatly appreciate the help if you can. Thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
RDW

bob70 said, on January 23, 2010 6:02 AM:

i bought a cheap mp4 ebay problem is i can download songs but it only plays songs for 8 secs
can you help an old pensioner

Bak'r 69 said, on February 6, 2010 8:23 AM:

Dave you the man!! it didnt work at first but after formating it and pluging the charger in it did. Thanks

luis said, on March 29, 2010 7:28 PM:

my songs are all geting corrupted and only like three songs work what do i doooo

Steve said, on March 31, 2010 6:17 PM:

I have my PSP set up with custom firmware (which is probably way beyond the technical ability of most people). I'm not sure if that's the reason that mine can play AAC files and MPEG-4 files as well as MP3s. Unfortunately it still can't play WMA files, which is disappointing because all of the songs I record and compose in cakewalk I export in WMA, for lack of an mp3 encoder that works with cakewalk.

I found a program called Tunebite which can convert just about any audio/video file to any file format. It can even create an audio file from a video. They have a shareware version with limited capabilities, but I highly recommend buying the platinum version--it's well worth it.

I'm not extremely familiar with all audio formats and conversion, so I'm not quite sure if there is any loss of quality when converting from WMA to MP3. I'm assuming that as long as you keep the same bitrate there's no loss in quality.

If you have some technical knowhow, or can follow instructions well, do an internet search for PSP custom firmware. I forget what the website was that I used, but they provided great instructions on how to install custom firmware. It requires something called a Pandora Battery, which is a modified PSP battery. You can just buy one off the internet--they are pretty cheap (like $15).

Hope this helps!

The one from Finland said, on April 4, 2010 12:15 PM:

Hi all! I got my music from computer to PSP 3004 WITHOUT FORMATING THE MEMORY STICK. And how did I do that? I created MUSIC (with caps on) folder to to that place, where the SYSTEM, PICTURES and other files are. Then I went to look at the music in PSP, and it all were there! Nicely filed by the artist as I filed them to MUSIC file in computer! SO great thing (though I have all that music in my cellphone already)! I'm not sure will this work with everyone, but atleast try it before you format your memory stick. If u have to still format it, copy everything from it to computer, format memory stick, and load those copied files to memory stick again. Hope this will help those, who do read this loooooooong line of comments!

jai said, on May 29, 2010 7:48 AM:

for transfering songs from ur pc to psp you should download sony media manager its free and easy to use it will automaticaly transfer songs.

Rick said, on August 6, 2010 8:56 AM:

If you have followed these directions, and your folders show up, but say "0 Tracks", it's because the PSP does not support nested folders (i.e. folders inside folders). All your MP3 files must be inside no more than 1 folder. For instance: "\MUSIC\Artist\Song.mp3" would work, but "\MUSIC\Artist\Album\Song.mp3" will not. Hope this helps someone, because it had me stumped for a while.

Nesou 2 said, on August 26, 2010 6:56 AM:

My problem is that...

1.My psp sais 'please wait' and i waited for a long time, and nothing.

2. My usb cable is 'unrecognised' the pc sais reconnect the device, and that if it doesnt work, replace the device.Ive done both. With my new device i got the same problem. my computer is windows xp, so please help!!!

Yur Therapist,, said, on October 6, 2010 10:27 AM:

Hi, guys n whoever have prob... i hope yall see this coz this actually work..
K, ive heard yall cant find da music on ure psp..maybe i can help yw,,
1. Download yur song thru Limewire (its free and no virus)
2.Done download, Go to Window Media Player (all PC's have so dun worry)
3.Connect yur psp to pc using Usb cable or the psp's usb cable.. (not really good actually so yw better buy the normal usb cable:)
4.When yw in da Window Media Player, search 'sync' on the far right of the top bar.
*Read Down

Yur Therapist,, said, on October 6, 2010 10:44 AM:

5.Search yur song dat yw hav download during Step 1.After searched , Drag da song onto the Sync Download system on the right of yur PC.
6.Wait until it done downloads (depends how much yw download thru psp n yw can downloads song from PC to PSP how much yw want)
7.Unplug the usb cable n exit the setting (psp n dun off yr psp while doing all this)
8.Check yur song in 'Music' folder (PSP) N, Walaa !yr songs are there.
9.If yw cant play da music ,theres something wrong wid da WMA playback,,
*Read Down

Yur Therapist said, on October 6, 2010 11:02 AM:

10.To enable da WMA playback,, Go to the 'System Setting' and search 'WMA Playback (or something other wid da word WMA)
11.Read the Warning n ffs , it wont happen so dun worry,, nothing damages on yur psp would happen!
12.After, dat check yur song with da WMA Playback problem's (incase)
13.Now, yw can play da song ,, n btw.. if ya had prob wid downloading yur song from PC (it happen to meh wen i was downloadin Eminem's song)Actually , i dunno y psp cant accept Em's song =( so dun ask why..

fgfdgdfg said, on October 15, 2010 6:21 AM:

man i hate this wma playback

Nassau Bahamas said, on November 4, 2010 8:26 PM:

Hi, i must say, that i was having the very same troubles as all you has/did.Somewhere on this page someone said that one should go into the psp file and open the music folder there, drig and drop. this was very easy for me. I can not speak for all the other info that are there. Just open up your psp file then music drg and drop there. hit the saftly remove device, unplud the cable and try it.Like someone has said, do not creat a file within a file. Use what is already there.Lawd my music is licking off. I'm a Bahamian by te way. Thank you all so much.

becky said, on November 11, 2010 11:25 AM:

umm this still isnt working it has all my music from my windows media player library , and when I click on an artist it says there are no tracks ...... Can you please help me.

marc said, on December 19, 2010 2:21 AM:

OK, i own a Sony psp 1000 series. now i have tried a few things especially that the one you listed, and even though the music was in mp3 format the songs would get corrupted and i would have to delete them. is this uncommon for my psp model series, or is this problem easily fixed? or could it have something to do with the memory card i use for my psp, and the i am using is a 4GB sandisk dual memory pro.

jerome said, on February 26, 2011 9:09 PM:

when i connect my psp to my macbook my psp says please wait please help!!!!! ASAP

cread said, on March 6, 2011 5:26 AM:

i have loaded lots of songs in mp3 format on my psp using both the media go program from sony + windows media player and in both ways only some mp3's work and others will stop at a random point and say it is corrupt but i know it's not, please help!

Lyndsey said, on May 15, 2011 10:43 AM:

I downloaded a bunch of songs last night on my PSP. This morning, not only could I not access those songs, but I couldn't open my music file at all. Each time I tried, the machine shut off. I've tried taking out the battery, holding the off button, every roundabout way to access that file. It's an 8gb memory card that cost me a bit more money than I could afford, and I've got hundreds of beloved songs on there.

The same thing happened to my last card but, strangely, I *can* access those songs on my old psp, and it still lets me open the file when it is linked to my computer, showing me a list of the songs I've downloaded.

Do you why it's doing this? I'd like to know if there's anything I can do to fix it, but more importantly, I'd just like to understand what's going on. Please? It's really bothering me. I don't have enough money to keep buying memory cards. :~(

I'd very much appreciate any help you could offer.

JUNAID IMTHYAS said, on July 3, 2011 10:17 AM:

I KNOW IT WORKS BUT I HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM ITS THAT WHEN I CONNECT MY PSP TO MY PSP IT SAYS THAT THE MEMORY CARD IS NOT INSERTED.
FOR THAT I CHECK WETHER MY MEMORY CRD IS INSERTED OR NOT BUT THEN IT IS INSERTED . ND WEN I TRY TO FORMAT MY MEMORY STICK ITS LIKE THEY TELL MEMORY CARD IS NOT INSERTSD .............
PLS HELP........OR I'LL BE ...............

Tangeni said, on July 4, 2011 8:37 AM:

Thanx alot Dave youre advice realy helped me alot now I can enjoy music on my PSP

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

I can't get music to play on my Sony PSP?

Reader Comments To Date: 206

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Check This Out Too...