Sony Corp. has spoken with major recording companies in regards of music download service for PlayStation Portable video game console, a media report claims. While it does make sense to listen to music using PSP, the move may actually involve adding online music store to the PlayStation Network.

According to Cnet News.com web-site, the talks between Sony and music labels are preliminary and no deals have been signed so far. Nevertheless, making PlayStation Portable a rival for iPod or, in case future versions support telephony and data transfer using GPRS/EDGE/3G, music oriented cell phones, including Apple iPhone, Nokia MusicXpress, Nokia N-series or Sony Ericsson Walkman, is a very serious move from Sony.

“This makes total sense that Sony would try to get content for the device. If Sony is smart, they would manage it the same way iTunes has and be device-agnostic. Whatever you get on a Sony site should play on an iPod as well,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Sony is rumoured to unveil a new version of the PSP in the coming months. The revamped Sony PSP will ditch UMD media, but will feature a built-in 8GB or 16GB flash drive for storing games on board of the console. The design of the new PlayStation Portable will also be considerably dissimilar from the available system: game controls will be located on a special sliding keypad beneath the screen. Since the new PSP will be dramatically different, albeit it is not projected to be Sony’s second-generation portable console, it is also expected to get a new name: PlayStation Portable Go!

Sony may easily position its PlayStation Portable Go! as a rival for various popular gadgets, including Apple iPod, Nintendo DSi and so on. Adding GPRS/EDGE/3G connectivity will even allow PSP Go! to rival multimedia rich cell phones.

Adding the music to PlayStation Network will allow to listen to music not only to PSP owners, but also to owners of the PlayStation 3 video game system, further transforming the PS3 from a game machine into a multimedia center.

Sony did not comment on the news-story.

Tags: Sony, Playstation, PSP