I’ll just come right out and say it — the PSPgo is stupid.Last week, Sony released the latest version of its Playstation Portable line, the PSPgo. Now as much as I want to make this entire column about how overpriced, senseless and lame an attempt to steal market from Apple’s “great game machine” the PSPgo is, I won’t. I want to talk about something bigger.Digital distribution.The big difference separating the new PSPgo from the original PSP is the Go’s lack of the Universal Media Disc (UMD) drive.When the PSP was introduced nearly five years ago, Sony had the high hopes of pioneering the UMD, a new format giving consumers the opportunity to watch movies and play games on a tiny little disc.Fast-forward to today. The UMD has failed — hard.The format just never caught on. No one wanted to pay another $20 to watch their favorite movies on a 4-inch screen.Now, with the UMD-less design of the PSPgo, Sony had the “Lesticles” to drop all forms of physical discs and require all media to be downloaded from the Playstation Network onto the Go’s internal memory.I actually commend Sony on this. They are making a huge push toward digital distribution.Now, am I saying the PSPgo will succeed?Far from it.I think the handheld will fail miserably. This is partially because of the ridiculously high price, but the main factor is I don’t believe people are ready for the future that is digital distribution.Personally, I like owning a hard copy of something. With a physical disc I can show I        purchased and own it, and I have the opportunity to proudly show off my large library of games and movies.But many people like the option of having everything saved into one place and their entertainment just one click away.Sony’s problem will be most consumers fall in the former category rather than the latter.A lot of people are also skeptical of having to link their credit card to an online store to purchase games (although the option to buy prepaid cards is out there).Also, not all people have the ability to use the PSPgo’s built-in Wi-Fi and connect to the Internet – thus defeating the purpose of owning a download only device. The PSPgo isn’t the first console with the ability to download games. “Current-gen” home gaming consoles have the ability to download full games. But more people still use the option of buying a disc instead of downloading the game to the system’s hard drive.Like I said earlier, digital distribution is the way of the future. The fact TVs, Blu-ray players, and even the Xbox 360 have the ability to stream movies automatically through Netflix shows the direction this format is heading.You can even download The Daily Reveille in its entirety on the Internet.Soon, couch potatoes will be able to watch any movie, listen to any band or play any game with the click of a simple button.This format will take a little longer to catch on, since retail stores are not big fans of the digital movement. It’s hard for retail stores to make money off people downloading their games straight from Sony.This even led Dutch and other European retail stores to refuse to sell the PSPgo. They felt Sony may cause a monopoly by not giving the consumer an option on where to buy their games.It’s kind of sad for Sony the PSPgo probably won’t catch on. But the bold move to release a console depending solely on digital content will not go unnoticed. Adam Arinder is a 20-year-old electrical engineering major from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.—-Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]