PC to Sony PSP: How do I download music?

Dave, Help! How do I download music from my HP Windows computer to a Sony PSP computer? The system says it is downloaded but the PSP says that there are no tracks available?

Dave's Answer:

Hmmm... I'm trying to figure out whether researching this question would justify me buying a Sony PSP and claiming it as a tax deduction on next year's taxes (a curiously apropos question since today is April 15th, when we file income taxes here in the United States). :-)

More seriously, here are the steps you'll need to go through to get your music to download successful from your Windows PC to your new Sony PSP unit:

Connect the PSP to your PC with a USB cable. (about $10: buy a USB cable for your PSP)
Press the "home" button on the PSP (it's a tiny button to the lower left of the screen) then use the left-right directional buttons to find "Settings", then the up-down buttons to find "USB Connection" on the PSP.
Press the "X" button (you got it, the round button with the "X" on it) and your PSP should display "USB Connection".
In a moment or two your computer should tell you that a new USB device has been connected, then show you a new generic hard drive, usually E: or F:
Click on the drive letter that corresponds to the PSP unit.
Now create a new folder on that drive and name it "psp".
Within the new "psp" folder create another folder, and name it "music".
Copy your desired mp3 files into the new "music" folder.
When you're done copying your desired music tracks, press the "O" button on the PSP to get out of USB connect mode.

Now you're ready to go! Use the left-right arrows to move to the music area, then the up-down arrows to find "Memory Stick". Chose that folder by pressing the "X" button again, and you should be able to find all your favorite music!

Note that the PSP running older firmware (firmware is the "operating system" of the PSP) does not support any Windows Media formats i.e WMA & WMV, so any music you have in that format must be converted to MP3 before copying to your PSP. Fortunately, Sony's very own Image Converter 2.1 can convert all your music with a very simple GUi and will then also manage all the measuring and transfering for you too.

If Image Converter doesn't seem up to snuff, then there are various other solutions for converting audio files, including the free Windows application Switch, written up here: How to convert WMA audio files into MP3 audio files.

If you really want to play WMA format audio files, make sure you have the latest version of the firmware from Sony (see below for update instructions).

That should get you up and rockin' in no time!

Additional useful tutorials:

• How to format your PSP memory stick
• Update your PSP firmware via wifi network
• Update your PSP firmware without a wifi network
• How to get music to play on your PSP

Thanks to PSP owner Tommy Martin for his help

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Categorized: iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help (Article 3966, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: playstation portable, psp, sony psp
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Reader Comments To Date: 695

jake said, on February 23, 2008 1:02 PM:

The computer says the musics on my psp but its not on my psp when i access the music.

Marka Herrera said, on February 23, 2008 8:04 PM:

I could not find the usb connection on the computer, so please help me

jeremy said, on February 25, 2008 11:23 AM:

Can you also download songs off of limewire

Will said, on February 26, 2008 6:27 PM:

I've got music on my PSP and I can play it and everything. My problem is getting it from my PSP to my computer. I had the Sony Connect music service which allowed me to do it, but I had my computer formatted and the service went out of business or whatever. When I plug in the USB connector and open the music file, it is empty, even though I can play the music on my PSP. Any suggestions?

jason said, on February 27, 2008 5:05 PM:

hey i wanted to know if you know aney free music sites and how would i put them on i tryed fore so long to put free music but i got one free song from RSS Channal it's on my psp i got free wallpaper and movies and what is remote play.

marcos said, on March 3, 2008 6:11 PM:

what are the access points in the psp?

brandon long said, on March 7, 2008 7:17 PM:

i have a windows 98 how do i download psp games on to my psp from my windows 98 i need step by step really bad please help?

nrell said, on March 13, 2008 7:19 PM:

THNXXXXXXXXXX DDDDDDAVE!!!!!

xavier drew said, on March 14, 2008 1:01 PM:

I put trakes on my psp but they turned into folders and I can play them.

brianna said, on March 15, 2008 8:21 PM:

omg! thank you so much! i have been longing to get music on to my psp and now i can cause of your help. thank you so much! bye... =]

parker mahony said, on March 17, 2008 3:47 PM:

this giuide does not help

Unknown.mc said, on March 17, 2008 6:18 PM:

i know that part but, my psp is still saying no traks, and u need to improved the site.

Dakota said, on March 19, 2008 9:30 PM:

Dave- The cable necessary to connect your PSP to the computer is a very commonly used cable. Instead of telling people to go and buy one, you should suggest that they may already own one for a different use.

Other objects with the same cable include:

-Certain cameras
-All Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators (TI-84 and up)
-Many cingular, verizon, and alltell cellphones (if yours has any way to connect to the computer, the same cable is probably used)

Dion said, on March 22, 2008 1:37 AM:

my psp keeps saying theres no tracks

dionshay said, on March 23, 2008 9:26 AM:

i was upgrading my psp then i took the memory stick out to switch. so it started to say it could not read. but it wouldnt leave mme turn it off so i took the battery out. now it wont come on anymore. what do i have to do now

charles said, on March 24, 2008 7:45 PM:

I did what you told me to..., but its just not working. I went to music and clicked "X" and it said I had no tracks....

Nicholas said, on March 25, 2008 10:28 PM:

Hey,
My name is nicholas and i have bought a psp about 2 months ago.
If wanting to put music or any other files on the psp the best option is to 'FORMAT' the memory stick, meaning the psp will make the CORRECT folders.
Making the folder 'PSP' then 'MUSIC' will NOT work.

shawn said, on March 26, 2008 12:26 AM:

I am trying to download music on my play station portable it it takes up memory but it says there is no tracks . what do i do?

shawn said, on March 26, 2008 12:30 AM:

I trieing to dwonload musicon my psp it it takes up memory but it says there is no trakes. what do i do?

Niesha said, on March 27, 2008 6:49 PM:

my psp keep saying there are no tracks

julia said, on March 28, 2008 1:43 AM:

hi dave im stuck you sed tat there would be a harddisk drives when you connect your psp usually e: or F: nothing happens it says my psp is connected but i doesnt show any harddisk drives please help me

Brooke said, on March 31, 2008 2:30 PM:

Heey Dave mhmm when i plug in my "PsP"
it says hardrive not found ?
like im really cofused
of i dont get back to this send me an email
Brooklyn_1994@hotmail.com
please email me as soon as you can and
man does ur steps for working a psp Easy but it dosen't seem to work for me

Tysean said, on April 3, 2008 9:50 AM:

I need you to show pictures on how to download music on the psp.

Autumn said, on April 3, 2008 10:51 PM:

I have the music onthe PSP but it wont play until I enable the WMA playback. I try to enable i but it wont connect to the internet. Can you please give me step by step help.

Thanks

kassani said, on April 7, 2008 4:11 PM:

can you tell me what you mean when the computer will show you a hard drive usually e or f

Kyle said, on April 9, 2008 1:12 PM:

yo dave ur a life saver man. u dnt kno how frustrated i was trying to get music on their. ur awesome.

Tristin said, on April 14, 2008 7:42 PM:

Ok i dont get any of this when i connect my psp to my comp. it shows up as "a". What do i do

Darina said, on April 20, 2008 9:06 AM:

Dave, Help
I am in panik i got this awsome psp, but idk how 2 download music and videos on it. I mean i followed your steps but what site should i use. Plzzz Dave can u help me find a free site 2 download music & videos???

siddharth said, on April 24, 2008 11:34 PM:

hiya dave dude you rock! hey i been surfing on the web for about two days searching and searching dude i cant find any good free web site so i can download music from pc to my psp man please help me find it if you know any free web site like this one plese write back to me or email me thankyou very much! oh and rock on dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jar97 said, on April 25, 2008 8:30 PM:

how do i put music on my psp

brittiny said, on April 25, 2008 11:57 PM:

ummm when i put my Usb cable in nothing pops up on the computer
its like with it ways the usb is working
what do i do

cutechick24 said, on April 26, 2008 8:50 PM:

dude, dat really didnt help me @ all. i copy it like u tell me and on my psp it sayz dat der iz no trackz.

noah sadek said, on April 28, 2008 6:18 PM:

well i did all yor steps but it keeps saying retry and not working. what do i do?

jon said, on April 29, 2008 9:11 AM:

i heard that u can download music straight from the internet broswer from the psp. do you know any websites like that?

Charles Baksh said, on May 3, 2008 1:49 PM:

Putting music on the psp is easy, but you have to put it in the right folder. When you plug your PSP into your computer, you should see a new disk drive appear in My Computer, open up the new drive, and from there, the only difficult part (its not too hard) is locating the folder which contains your music, so when you go into your psp music folder, it will be there.

lindsey said, on May 4, 2008 4:01 PM:

i downloaded music onto my psp and then i unpluged my usb cord and i tried to play my music and it says "th music cannot be played there are no tracks available". so what do i do now?

sherry said, on May 4, 2008 5:30 PM:

Dave, how do I get the pictures I downloaded to my documents to a CD?. I JUST BOUGHT A INSPIRON.531S WITH WINDOWS VISTA. I had Windows XP with my old computer, so I am trying to get used to the vista. sherry

mudvayne1119 said, on May 8, 2008 9:49 AM:

how do i dowload games from my computer to my psp so i can play it i mean i got it downloaded on there but i still cant play it so how do i get it too play

zach said, on May 12, 2008 4:59 PM:

I downloaded the music. I have the folders but there are zero tracks. I also can't delete the folders. What do I do?

tyler said, on May 13, 2008 5:34 PM:

i wanted to know how do i put music on my psp because when i plugged it in the computer and went to USB mode.......it came up on the computer and it said new hardrive g and when i double clicked on it...it said access denied......what to do???

ray said, on May 14, 2008 12:13 AM:

is really easy to tranfer music from u pc to the psp dont need to use media player or i tunes none of the bs just upen your folder in your pc and from there tranfer it 2 your psp thats it peace .....................................

Daniel Smeltz said, on May 20, 2008 4:56 PM:

OK... sorry to bother you but I am having a problem getting the music onto my Playstation Portable. This can clear up some things... I first turned on my psp, went under the home and clicked the usb icon (with the cord), it read fine. Then I Went under Windows media player, clicked synchronize and put songs under the list. The Windows Media Player didn't acknowledge the my PSP in the Windows Media Player, but t did register under my tool bar on my desktop. SO... My problem is that I can't physically put m music from my library on Windows Media Player onto my psp. Help me please!!

:D Daniel

jenna said, on May 31, 2008 10:04 AM:

how do i download music to a motorola sd adapter??

jesus said, on June 1, 2008 12:14 PM:

how do i find downloaded photos

marques lomax said, on June 1, 2008 4:20 PM:

Im looking for a way to Sync music to my psp and when i follow the instructions above it has no options for syncing music to my device.

kelly brown said, on June 7, 2008 2:55 AM:

when i plug my psp in to the usb it dosent come up with the thing u said it would so please help me!!!!

jake said, on June 7, 2008 2:34 PM:

I have foolled the steps but and the only transfering to the psp is file names and i cant drag songs into the file. when i use windows meda player it says my psp is full but on the psp it says i have 932mg left I am very fustrated

jordan said, on June 14, 2008 2:09 PM:

em i dont get wat you mean when you say that then it will show you an generic hard drive usually e: or f: i really need you to get back to me on this one asap

Game Sanders said, on June 15, 2008 8:23 PM:

I know for windows (2000, ME, XP, Vista) windows downloads the drivers automatically the first time you plugin your PSP, but I don't know how it works for other operating systems.....

Jordan Foster said, on June 16, 2008 1:51 PM:

hey dave,
i need help because when i get everything all ready there is allready a box that says MUSIC,PICTURES and exc... and i dont no what to do? but would i be able to download the music to my psp from Itunes because that is the only thing i have for music so please help.

ANGIE said, on June 16, 2008 10:47 PM:

I NEED HELP ON DOWNLOADING MY MUSIC ON TOO MY PSP??? I ALREADY HAVE MUSICE DOWNLOADED BUT IT JUST TELLS ME THAT I NEED TRACKS ON MY MUSIC??
SO IF YOU CAN WRITE TO ME BACC THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL*
THANKS

jack said, on June 18, 2008 10:16 AM:

i m triying to put songs and videos on my psp but it always shows that the music can not be played because there are no trac available plz any body tell me fast plz i m triying from to much time

Caitlin said, on June 22, 2008 3:22 PM:

I can't get the music into the 'music' folder
:-(

Katherine Peralta said, on July 1, 2008 4:10 PM:

My limewire isn't connecting at all. I already check it's not because of my firewall so then what is it. I NEED HELP>!

breghwu said, on July 4, 2008 12:33 PM:

hey my psp wont download the music i synced it but music wont play and it says it's there but it is not!!!