The PSP UMD holder distribution

March 17, 2006

I registered my PSP on their site a while ago. Now they sent me this package that contained an UMD holder. Here’s how the size compares to a game case. It’s a bit thicker, but can hold five UMD-s, whereas for games you’d have to carry five cases which waste much more space. Plus there are slots for two Memory Sticks. And UMD-s have such a wacko shape that they wouldn’t fit in any of normal accessory holders (for floppies, CD-s etc), yet they have part of them exposed so they definitely need protection, you can’t have them just jumping around in your bag.

So the UMD holder is a perfect accessory for the mobile PSP user and sending it for free to a registered user is a nice touch. At first glance, it’s kinda smart because it’s the one accessory you really need, but at the same time, if you don’t buy all sorts of accessories or junk like I don’t, then you wouldn’t bother to go shop for it and waste more cash than you already did for the PSP.

But the more pressing question is, why wasn’t it bundled together with the PSP in the first place? There’s tons of junk in the PSP pack, such as a table footstand and the useless headphones, that could easily have been replaced with this. Is it part of some sinister distribution strategy to keep buyers happier for a longer time and spread out their “ooh-aah” effect over time? So that first time you ooh when you buy the thing, and second time you aah when this UMD holder pops up in your mail.