Free downloads for PSP are not entirely free. When you join a site you will likely have to pay a fee, but the downloads may be free after that. The games are copyrighted so it is illegal to just download PSP games for free. There are other free downloads, though, that you may not even realize are available to you. This is a little crash course on free downloads and the lingo you should know when looking for cool stuff for your PSP. You might be surprised at what downloads that you actually can get for free for your PSP.

Firmware and Custom Firmware

Firmware is a series of smaller programs and a type of software that is used by the PSP as an operating system; much like your PC uses Windows Vista, Linux or MAC OS. It created your PSP's functionality, menus and other operations.

Custom firmware is firmware that has been created to replace firmware that is supplied by Sony. There are certain benefits to custom firmware, such as you can use homebrew, play games that are backed up, play full screen video and lots more.

Flash0, Flash1, MSO and UMDO

These are the four main parts of the many, many components that make up your PSP. These parts are Flash0, Flash1, MSO and UMDO. Flash0 is the part that contains your operating system. That is, it is where you have your firmware. If you have any customer firmware and their corresponding components such as Recovery Menus, they are stored there as well. If this section is deleted or becomes corrupted, your PSP will not work. Flash1 is where things are temporarily stored until they are needed. This is very similar to the RAM that is in your own computer. This is where your background and settings are stored.

MSO is where your saved games, demos, bookmarks, videos, music and homebrew are stored. In short, it is your memory stick. Your UMDO is your UMD drive. See, some games that are UMB have upgrades to different firmwares that are attached to them. This is usually not a very good idea. If you want to upgrade, go straight to the source and download directly from Sony or use a custom firmware.

What is Homebrew?

Homebrew code is legal, for the most part. See, homebrew is designed to operate on the Sony PSP, but it may not have necessarily been created by Sony or even another game manufacturer. Homebrew can be games, emulators, applications and other cool stuff for your PSP. The difference is that it is written by programmers or professionals, and, yes, even the occasional noob. This code is usually free for download and to be used by others.

As for the legalities of homebrew, there is the black, the white and some gray area. You can design a minigame or program and market it, usually with little or no legal issues, if you give credit to the folks who inspired you or you get permission. This means that if you have someone else's program and alter it, you should and must ask their permission before you take any steps toward releasing it. You should also check out the laws in your area because if you violate any of those laws, you are definitely in the wrong and legal action can be brought against you.

People work hard to bring great games so when you design a program that steals what other people have worked so hard to create without getting permission from them; it is stealing, plain and simple.

ISO/CSO These are illegal, along with DAX's and ROM's. You can't get PS1 Games, PSP Games, Movies and other materials for free, it is illegal. Making backups of your own games is one thing, but when you steal, "borrow" or download someone else's game is a horse of a different color. If you want the game, buy it and support the people who worked so hard to develop it for you. Stay away for the illegal activities. You just don't want to go there.

Cool Stuff You can do on Your PSP

You can save YouTube videos to watch on your PSP, you can load music videos, movies, music and many other things. Again, for the movies and videos you will probably have to pay the site a small fee, but then you can get free downloads for your PSP. YouTube videos, though, are always free downloads for your PSP!