The PlayStation Portable console is one of the biggest handheld devices in the world, giving Sony a lot of influence on that market. Now, as the company has unveiled the often rumored PSP Go! device, a lot of changes have been made to its overall performance.

Out of all the changes, the elimination of the UMD drive, which up until now was almost the only way to play games on the PSP, has been the biggest. Instead of it, Sony promises a digital download service, which might use the PlayStation Network for the support.

But the introduction of this new service, coupled with the fact that games that were released only on UMD won't be playable, has made a lot of pre-existing PSP owners reticent about the new device. Don't worry, though, Sony says through the voice of Brian Keltner, who has talked with Kotaku about a solution to help people who already have a collection of UMD-based games.

“We are looking into programs for owners who have previously purchased UMD titles and want to exchange them for digital versions,” Keltner says. “It's something we are still hammering out the details. As soon as we have solid plans in place, we will make an announcement.”

Keltner reveals that the company hopes that the new system will be in place when the PSP Go! will ship in the fall of this year, and that everyone will be happy to migrate to the newer and lighter model. Hopefully, we will know more about this new service, as it will certainly make a lot of people migrate to the PSP Go! when it will be launched.

Until then, though, we can still enjoy the normal PSP consoles and their noisy, but necessary, UMD drives in order to play games.