Tsunamii said:
"I'm aware that with all these technologies, the PS3 can't be offered at a price that's targeted towards households.
I did not research this to see if the report was accurate, but just let me say that I can not be suprised since Sony has a long-standing [1][2][3][4] tradition of making [what seems to be by sideline observers] retarded decisions. That Sony would choose to release a product intended for[and dependant upon] widespread household use that is stated to be too expensive for general households, is absurd, at least in my opinion.
-Chris
Note: examples given below based on casual observation.
[1] Mini-Disc format: ignored the potential to use MD for cheap/efficient data storage on computers -- could have dominated considering the price/data density at the time several years ago. Also, inclusion of SMCS DRM even makes the system worthless for reverse data transfer/storage of it's own proprietary music files[Atrac].
[2] Refusal to introduce competitive MP3 player products for the first few years of it's booming introduction, thus shrinking their own portable audio market share in an act that seems like pure stupidity.
[3] Introduction of SACD, a system that is believed by many experts to be technically inferior[and SACD is not proven to have any useful advantages by Sony] to the conventional PCM technologies, and requires expensive retrofitting of studios to natively use the SACD[DSD] system for production. Also, SACD is introduced as new and better, but is in many ways a downgrade to the existing format: it lacks critical advantages of CD[widely usable data that is rippable and exportable to external standard DACs].
[4] Claiming that PSP is the "IPOD for movies", and that they intend to target this in the market. However, PSP lacks any rewritable drive or media to transfer files in this manner. A very expensive large size Sony Memory Stick Duo would be required, or a special and seperate UMD[the proprietary media used by Sony in the PSP] writer would be required. IMO, Sony could have simply used mini DVD format instead of a pointless additional proprietary format[UMD], and used a DVD writer/reader in the PSP, since this[DVD-R] is a wide spread, low cost and already existing technology. In addition to making the "IPOD for movies" thing more likely, the PSP would have been much more useful as a MP3 or other media device right out of the box.
-Chris