Since the time that the first PSP was introduced, what has captured the interest of many individuals isn’t the games that it offers, but rather its PSP UMD movie capability. Think about it – there are almost certainly more movies to be found in this format than there are other PSP stuff like the actual games. And the spin-off has been software programs that can convert movies into a format that’s playable on these systems, such as PSP Movie Creator.
However it wasn’t long before the sales of PSP UMD movies started to decline dramatically. In fact, manufacturers started cutting or ceasing production, and dropping their prices significantly. So what took place to trigger this decline? When you look at it, it’s really quite obvious. The situation is quite similar to downloading songs and movies free of charge instead of purchasing the disk. It seems silly to spend money on something you can get at no cost.
Unfortunately for the makers of PSP UMD movies, this is a situation they likely didn’t foresee. Just like the music industry slumped when digital downloads gained in popularity, the same has happened to PSP movies. There are now so many sites where you can get pirated copies of PSP UMD movies that it has affected the production of the physical product.
Some manufacturers have produced promotional items such as older videos that were previously available only in obsolete formats such as beta, and offered them at a reduced cost. They even tried to sell the movies for a reasonable outlay on their own websites. However even at a reduced cost, folks still preferred to download their movies at no cost.
There’s no shortage of sites online where a movie can be converted to PSP format and downloaded. As well as this online access to free movies, you can also purchase programs that will convert your files to UMD format. Even though this is theoretically illegal, it’s still a popular practice. Then they can upload their converted file and distribute it to anybody else who’s interested. With these kinds of options, what’s the point of buying them when they can be found for free?
So how do you solve the problem? Perhaps there needs to be an organization that monitors these illegal downloads. No doubt the movie manufacturers would like to be involved in something like this. Furthermore, a crackdown on those who break the copyright laws has to be pursued more vigorously. But without a doubt, all of this is much easier said than done, so for those of us who enjoy watching a PSP UMD movie, we can help the industry by purchasing them rather than watching them at no cost.
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