A solution to the PSPgo's lack of a UMD drive

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the PSPgo, its lack of a UMD drive, and the issue that presents for current PSP owners. I think I have come up with a solution that could be mutually beneficial to both Sony and the consumer. It involves the suggestion Sony has made that UMD games would be available for download.

We can assume that people with this issue already own a PSP, and play their games on UMDs (the legal way). We can also assume that those people would be interested in owning a PSPgo and downloading PSP games through the online PlayStation Store (again, the legal way). That said, here is what can be done:

Step 1. Access PlayStation Store from both PSP and PSPgo.

Step 2. Authorize both PSP and PSPgo to the PlayStation Store in a manner similar to authorizing a computer to iTunes.

Step 3. Insert UMD of desired game into PSP.

Step 4. Validate UMD disc on PlayStation Store. This unlocks an option to create a digital copy of the game (possibly requiring a reasonable licensing fee; i.e. a dollar or two)

Step 5. UMD data is downloaded onto Memory Stick in PSP, similar to installing a game on the Xbox 360 HDD. Another possibility would be that validating the disc activates a download from the PlayStation Store (This alternate solution was suggested to me by Boter of the Game Nutz Podcast). This data is now linked only to PSP units authorized by the PlayStation Network ID of the PlayStation Store account used to create the digital copy, similar to iTunes or XBLA.

Step 6. Remove Memory Stick from PSP, insert into PSPgo, and play. For added security, the game can act like a Gamertag in that it cannot exist on two storage devices at the same time, meaning it is either on a Memory Stick, or an authorized PSPgo's internal memory, and cannot be duplicated onto another device.

Problem solved. It might be a bit of a hassle at first, but once all your games are copied, you no longer need the UMDs or the PSP and can use the PSPgo exclusively. Now, hopefully Sony is paying attention.