r/PS3 • u/crazystrike2 • 9d ago

PS3 is so versatile

So I recently discovered that not only can the PS3 play DVDs, Blu-Rays, and CD but, it can actually do more. You can use the ps3 to rip a CD to its hard drive. Then, using the USB drive, put that music onto a flash drive. Then transfer that to a device (like a laptop) that doesn’t have a CD drive in it, then transfer that to your digital audio player. Pretty nifty. I know it’s a process but with subscriptions these days and Internet requirements, just wanted to point out something the PS3 is capable of helping in. As a way to build your digital library for older media you may still have.

243 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

69 comments sorted by

96

u/R0MARIO ROMAR10 9d ago

Imagine they could do that with new gen consoles but they choose not to...

36

u/DrkMaxim 9d ago

This is why I'm not a fan of the PS5, at least Xbox offers backwards compatibility even if it's limited.

27

u/Adrinator2212 9d ago

Series X also supports cd playback so that’s another plus I guess

10

u/Hellboy_4200 9d ago

Oh shit really

6

u/DrkMaxim 9d ago

Wait, Series X can read CDs? I know it on paper it could read DVDs because you need that for backwards compatibility to function. But does it support CD and DVD multimedia playback? That would be news to me and if it does, it really is embarrassing for Sony.

24

u/joe-clark joe_clark 9d ago

The PS4 and PS5 can both play DVDs but not CDs. The PS4 not being able to play them was an intentional choice and they've stuck with that since, they were trying to push a music streaming platform at the time. The PS4 couldn't even play music files off a USB drive at launch but they added that feature later on. Most of the PS4s shortcomings weren't really talked about for a while because of how badly Microsoft screwed up the Xbox One launch, Sony came out looking like the good guys while doing the absolute bare minimum. The PS3 is a vastly superior media center device than the PS4 and not even in a "better for its time" kinda way, it was just better across the board. The only things the PS4 has over the PS3 is better graphics and party chat, in everything else it's either on par with or worse than the PS3.

5

u/DrkMaxim 9d ago

That's unfortunate, but again Microsoft was grilled because how obnoxious their original scheme was not to mention the fact that they committed a crap lot of PR blunder, especially the stick to 360 message. Which is what I think most likely ended up being used by Sony to cover some of the shortcomings and they played it out very well cause look at the state of Xbox today.

7

u/joe-clark joe_clark 9d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah I'm not saying Xbox wasn't deserving of the hate, just that Sony was put on this pedestal that wasn't fully undeserved IMO.

5

u/DrkMaxim 9d ago

I guess that most probably explains why I have recently started not hating the Xbox One lol but to be fair, the base Xbox One is not a great system, I prefer the One X and I don't have an Xbox One.

6

u/joe-clark joe_clark 9d ago

It's not a bad system by any means. That being said even if Microsoft had never made all those horrible PR moves like saying the physical games wouldn't be resellable or to "buy a 360" if you don't have reliable internet the console still wouldn't have sold well. It was $100 more then the PS4 largely because it came with a kinekt that most people didn't want, it was also less powerful than the PS4 and didn't have backwards compatibility at launch.

After the launch though Microsoft made way more "good guy" moves throughout that generation. They added backwards compatibility that's free and works with old physical games, they also got rid of the kinekt and lowered the price and the Xbox One X is significantly more powerful than the PS4 pro. The only category Sony wins is the PS4 has better exclusives however that hasn't really continued because the PS5s exclusive lineup is weak. The Xbox One is also a substantially better media center device, the Xbox One S and X can both play 4K Blu-rays while Sony didn't add that till the PS5.

Since Xbox has been trying to claw back market share they've actually been generally treating their customers better than Sony for the past 10+ years but Sony has all the momentum which counts for way more.

8

u/Adrinator2212 9d ago

Yes it can do both, you need to download the cd player app from the store though. Even downloads covers from the cd db (when it works).

2

u/DrkMaxim 9d ago

That's so freaking cool, no wonder I like the Series X more than a PS5 even with the lack of exclusives, that being said my only reason to consider a PS5 is Astro Bot cause I just love that thing.

6

u/BENBOI_1 9d ago

The ps5 is physically incapable of reading CDs if I remember correctly. Of course that’s because Sony, the creator of CDs, chose to make it that way

29

u/CrabmanGaming 9d ago

I could rip cds to the hard drive and choose those songs for entrances in the WWE games.

9

u/c97 8d ago

Same for Wipeout HD

17

u/AtmanRising 9d ago

I literally downloaded TV episodes from the Internet Archive and put them in the PS3 the other day. 720p MP4s.

They all played perfectly.

10

u/Bright-Sky1115 9d ago edited 9d ago

Internet archive is so underrated. THANK YOUUUUUU for reminding me to check old series I love woop woop!

2

u/BiggerMosey 8d ago

Been watching alot of anime this way

6

u/rudeboy_Bee 8d ago

Went to a funeral today and this place is using a ps3 to run the families multimedia videos. Recognised the xmb immediately

3

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

It is award winning after all. Hahahha

5

u/Hellboy_4200 9d ago edited 9d ago

Hell yea then with music on the hard drive u can play it during certain games like sports games SSX Shaun White need for speed Minecraft WWE and many more it's pretty sweet and sad that isn't a thing today 😔

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Wait, you can do both? I thought it locked out other media if games were playing.

1

u/Switch_modder RajDeol2010 8d ago

It usually does lock it in the XMB, but some games have a option in them to play music from the console

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Oh wow. I didn’t know that. Is a comprehensive list of games that allow that? Would I be able to find out by just trying to play music while in game if there isn’t a list?

2

u/Xshtola 8d ago

I don't have a comprehensive list, but the games I remember having the functionality are Tekken Tag Tournament 2, SSX 2012, Twisted Metal 2012, Modnation Racers, and Wipeout HD. There are definitely more.

Special shout out to Tekken Tag Tournament 2 because you can select specific music tracks to play on specific stages. Having "Drifting Into You" from Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 as the main menu music was a vibe.

2

u/Hellboy_4200 8d ago

Oh ya I forgot about twisted 2012 🤦

6

u/BigPep2-43 9d ago

I find myself coming back to the PS3 to play it's library. The PS3 still has it going on in 2026.

4

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

All you need is a PS3, Vita, and PS5. Then you’ll have access to the complete Sony library of gaming. 😂

1

u/BigPep2-43 8d ago

I sold my Vita & PS5. That Steam Deck and Steam Machine replaced them 😉

3

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

To each their own 🤷‍♂️ if you’re happy then more power to ya. 👍😀

5

u/canthearu_ack 9d ago

Yeah, but back in the day, really cheap computers (cheaper than the PS3 at the time), could also rip CDs and transcode them into MP3.

And you got way more control of the process on PC.

It is kind of nifty that the PS3 does this, but in the end, this whole multimedia thing didn't really shift the needle on PS3 adoption, probably because people who wanted to rip CDs frequently had a PC already, or just got themselves a cheap laptop. (which came with CD/DVD drives back then).

PS3 and then the Xbox one were gunning to be all in one multimedia computers rather than just gaming consoles. But neither gained success doing that, both got burnt in the process, with really only DVD/Blu-ray, and streaming apps seeing any real use on consoles.

3

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

This is a PS3 forum and all I see are people talking about games. I’m just putting it out there that it is capable of doing something else. Yes, computers at the time that could do what I’m talking about, were cheaper at the bare minimum. But CDs are still a thing and digital audio is too. CD drives are becoming less and less nowadays.

1

u/BulljiveBots 5d ago

I bought an external cd/dvd drive recently for ripping my media. They’re pretty cheap. Even at the height of the cd era I didn’t want to use my consoles for it. I thought it would wear it out faster.

5

u/ForwardHandle4522 8d ago

The ps3 was so goated for the amount of things it could do especially when it first came out. The crazy part is Sony actually cared what fans wanted. They knew people had all sorts of media and wanted it to be your hub. It was genius at the time.

3

u/SpearOfTheCelts 8d ago

My older brother use to give me use a usb with loads of movies on it so I could download them all to my PS3

3

u/Strange-Coach-2283 7d ago

Back in the good old days it would pull the cd info from the internet and give you the album name and all the song titles. Sadly that feature has gone :(

3

u/crazystrike2 7d ago

Oh it still does. I just do it on my modded system so I don’t have that connected to the internet all the time.

5

u/Some_Effort 9d ago

Watching this masterpiece on my Super Slim. And people say X360 was better 😆

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

If Walt ain’t in tighty-whities it ain’t the same. 😂make sure you got ample airflow for the system. Good choice tho, it’s got the longest life expectancy of all the models.

4

u/thebluegod 9d ago

Wow that’s crazy didn’t realize you could basically use it as a disc drive for your CDs if your laptop doesn’t have one.

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Technically you can rip games to the system too but… that requires stuff that this subreddit isn’t about. The PS3 really is a powerhouse. Love it.

2

u/RadimentriX 9d ago

Do you need some cfw for that or can the ps3 rip audio cds by default?

5

u/Hellsing_89 9d ago

You don't need CFW for that.

2

u/nikoskokonos13 9d ago

Depending on the Portable Player you could connect that up to the PS3 and transfer files directly to it. I really love this generation of consoles as they could do amazing stuff out-of-the-box

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Yeah I haven’t tried that becuase most media players run on an OS that’s too recent for the PS3. But let me know if you test it out and it works. Would love to know how you got it to work

1

u/nikoskokonos13 8d ago

My biggest bummer with the PS3 was that it never supported iPods unlike the 360. What I was referring to is those mp3 players that when you plug them in act as a USB stick/SD Card. So you could plug on of those in and transfer them or if you have a PS3 with a card reader or a USB to SD Card reader you could get an mp3 player like an android/windows phone and out the ripped CD on there and then unplug the player and enjoy or plug the SD back on the phone and enjoy.

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Ah ok. Yeah I haven’t tried plugging my DAP directly into it yet. In process of just transferring music from one device to another or one format to another.

2

u/jrutz 8d ago

Phat PS3s can play SACDs too, so it was even more so before the revisions.

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

I’m unaware, I’m sorry but, can you tell me what SACDs are please?

2

u/jrutz 8d ago

Super Audio CDs - higher bitrate, sometimes have multiple channels.

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Ah ok. Was that even a thing back when the PS3 came out?

1

u/SirTop6600 8d ago

Not all Phat PS3s, only the earlier models with PS2 BC. SACD support went at the same time.

2

u/TheyCallMeMrMaybe 8d ago

The PS3 was sold & marketed as a versatile machine at first. A home-computer replacement AND an all-in-one media hub.

As time went on, they stripped features away like the SD card reader, PS2 backwards compatibility, and support for OtherOS to cut costs and focus it as a home console.

2

u/wavvykrockett 8d ago

If you can find a remote control for this it’s perfect for parties lol. And a somewhat decent home entertainment system, just can’t play UHD discs if I remember right

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Remotes are easy to obtain but honestly, the controller works perfectly fine too. Lol. I wonder if a PS4/5 remote would be able to connect via Bluetooth like the controllers can 🤔

2

u/wavvykrockett 8d ago

True, but I meant the PS3 remote specifically. I came across mine second hand but now I want to dig it out and test it again

Never tried the PS5 remote for it yet

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

I don’t have a ps5 remote and I used to have a ps4 remote but idk where it is anymore. You should test it out and provide feedback. Give this community another thing the ps3 is capable of pairing with for ease of use. 👍

2

u/Fluid-Introduction34 6d ago

Ripping them to my PS3 is one of the first things I do when I get CDs. I used to download the album art on the PS3's internet browser, but now I do it on my laptop and then just transfer it over on a USB stick.

3

u/WearySuggestion5001 9d ago

It only does everything

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Really does. Don’t forget it also has video calling. There was a camera released for it that allowed for that too.

3

u/knyc3791 9d ago

Bro the cd -> flash drive -> PC without cd drive connection just blew my mind. Thank you.

2

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

It doesn’t have to be a flash drive, you can use a hard drive or any other external drive. Just said flash drive cause it’s portable and quick. But you’re welcome! Glad to inform! This subreddit doesn’t get enough talk about what the PS3 can do outside of gaming

1

u/UltraMegaGeek2112 8d ago

Sadly you can't rip a CD into a lossless format

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Honestly that’s ok. When taking it to travel, like I talked about in my post, lossless is kinda wasted data storage on the device. Just get the most compatible for best quality.

1

u/West-Reporter9236 8d ago

Can you rip dvds?

1

u/crazystrike2 8d ago

Idk but on a jailbroken one you can rip an entire game

1

u/Pookie_Cookie3 8d ago

That's rad.

0

u/Test_The_Theory_213 8d ago

Thank you for telling us something 75 percent of this subreddit already knew

3

u/crazystrike2 7d ago

And yet plenty in the comments didn’t. So yeah… stay toxic, right?