These days, it seems like every hot new portable entertainment gadget gets compared to the iPod, so it's no surprise that columns and blog entries are already pitting Sony's PlayStation Portable, the PSP, against the iPod, even before the PSP comes ashore in North America. Some would argue, of course, that it's not--excuse the pun--an apples-to-apples comparison. But ever since Sony, after years of MP3 ineptitude, started talking up the PSP as much more than a gaming device--complete with rumors of rolling out an accompanying iTunes-like music service of its own--the whole iPod vs. PSP thing has taken on epic, Ali-Frazier-like proportions. OK, maybe that's a little over the top. But it is Think Different vs. Like No Other. It is the Current Purveyor of Cool vs. Once and Future Purveyor. It is Company Savior vs. Company Savior. And in gadget land, that all adds up to something moderately epic.
