No one can deny Sony has been making strides on the PSN to bring it up the level of Xbox Live, but there’s still a ways to go. The recent graphical interface upgrade to the PlayStation Store was a huge leap forward from the web interface, but there’s still a few lingering issues that bother me every time I go to download some new demos, videos, etc.

1. Don’t ask me for a download location for Photos and Videos if I don’t have external storage devices. There’s literally nowhere else it can go, so why do I need to confirm the location for the files? It’s just one extra step that could easily be removed.
2. Automatically add all downloads to the background Queue. The addition of the Download Queue was a great step, but why not have downloads automatically added to that list? Who really sits there and waits for the download to complete instead of moving on and playing a game, watching a video, or downloading other items? One less screen and one less button press. It’s all about streamlining.
3. Install Demos and Game Packs automatically from the Download Queue. If it’s done when you aren’t adding things to the queue, why can’t the firmware be tweaked slightly to perform the install in the background as soon as the downloads finish? It’s not about the time it takes to install the demo/game, it’s about the overall streamlined experience. This is a powerful console, let it install things for me.
4. Don’t add Demos to the Shopping Cart. Why do we need multiple steps to download a demo? With a video, you click download and it begins. With a demo, you click download and the “Download” button flashes a few times and then takes you to the shopping cart screen only to need to click download again. It’s a demo, not paid content, just let it go.
5. Confirmation to leave the PlayStation Store is not needed. if I hit Circle at the Store Top, I want to leave. It’s not that hard to come back if I left by mistake.

I’m not saying we need to completely retrofit the PSN. Sony has been making a lot of progress in the infancy of the console and service. These are just some suggestions on how to make it a better and easier experience for gamers.