One of the most difficult things to assess for yourself when you are a computer geek is when your own use-dynamics have changed. You see, it is pretty easy for me to profess that I know just the gadget that someone else needs when they come to me for advice. But when I have to do that for myself, it gets a little harder.

Sometimes it is harder because I know about all of the various choices that are out there. When a normal consumer wants a computing device and they are concerned about portability, they automatically head for 13.3" laptops. But when you know about NetBooks, UMPCs, TabletPCs, SmartPhones, and MIDs, all of a sudden that choice is more difficult because of the increased variables involved.

The same is true when you have too many devices and do not realize until it until too late that you have some things that you just don't need. The Computer Geek's other problem is denial. We convince ourselves that we will get back to the project that requires that no longer recognizable gadget collecting dust underneath the computer table. Or that we can not afford to get rid of it because, while we do not need it everyday, the three times a year that we do need it, it is invaluable.

Such is perhaps the case with my Playstation Portable. I have recently divested myself of several digital doohickeys. My MacBook, Toshiba Satellite M305-4819 Laptop, Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium UMPC, my old BackUp Tower, and now my Nintendo Wii have all been part of a self-mandated mass exodus from my apartment. All of these failed to make the final cut of what was a subjective assessment of the devices that I really used and really needed.

My PSP was one of the devices that did make the cut. I convinced myself that I needed to maintain at least one of the two portable gaming consoles that I owned. It was an easy rift to make between the Nintendo DS and the PSP. The PS3 was staying; the Wii was going, so it made sense to tether the little brothers to the fates of their full-sized siblings.

The PSP was also more versatile as a multi-media device. With the ability to surf the web, play movies (via either digital format on the memory stick, or on UMD), and act as an MP3 Player, the PSP was the more sophisticated device. Those strengths also spurred, over its years on the market, the development of a more sophisticated games library. Between the two, the PSP had the titles that more so matched the flavor of the titles available on the last generation of consoles. This to me represented less of a paradigm shift when going from gaming on the 360 and PS3 one day, to playing on the PSP the next.

So which of the two I kept was essentially a no-brainer. The question I now ask myself, with only one remaining, is do I really need either? My frequency of travel has just fallen to rock-bottom these days. My involvement in social pursuits has also led to the fact that I am not out scaring up reasons to boost that travel frequency back up, either. 99% of the time that I am on the road these days, it is for social reasons, and there is little opportunity, need, or desire for clocking a lot of game-time on those trips.

That would be less of a big deal if it were not just for the infrequency of travel-use of my PSP. If you look at a lot of the consumer surveys taken over the last few years, most people use their portable consoles curled up on the couch or lying in bed in their own home. The large percentage of use of portable gaming consoles rarely happens outside of the home. And there is where I am also not clocking a lot of gaming time on my PSP.

Outside of going home, I do not see a lot of trips coming up where the PSP would be part of my Electronics Pak. But with two trips on the table to do just that, go home, and the fact that, inevitably, I will eventually have to go on business travel, the PSP will be retained. Right now, it falls into that category of devices that may only get used three times a year, but will be invaluable in those applications. One minute of boredom is unacceptable. So if I get stuck somewhere waiting for a flight by myself, or if I have a quiet night back at Mom's after she is asleep and my other family is occupied for the night, out will come the PSP.

It may not see a lot of action in 2009, but it still makes the list of devices that need to stick around...even if it collects a little dust this year...

- Vr/Zeux..>>