Rolly, the oddest thing from Sony yet

While every other manufacturer on the planet is busy launching new MP3 players in what can only be described as a traditional manner, Sony had to go and develop something completely new and insane. Say hello to the Sony Rolly.

Yes, we weren't sure what it was at first either, but it really is an MP3 player, although that's a too simple term for what it is. The Rolly features integrated speakers and a mere 1GB of internal memory. It's also got a USB port and built in Bluetooth. So far it doesn't sound all that different from any of the recent players from Samsung, right?



Well, this is where it all goes very very strange, the Rolly is sort a round oblong shape that narrows off at the ends. In each end you'll find a speaker cover, but the speaker covers will open and close automatically. But are they really speaker covers? And what about the fact that it only has a single button and no LCD screen? In all honesty, we can't really explain what it is and we suggest you have a look at the video below instead.

Although not much wiser, it seems like Sony has created a cross breed between an MP3 and a robot. It can dance in tune with the music and you can even program in your own "dance" moves. It will play MP3, ATRAC (didn't Sony bury this format?) and AAC either from its built in memory or via a Bluetooth A2DP or AVRCP connection. The battery is good for give hours of pure music, four hours of dance and music and three and a half with Bluetooth enabled.

The killer is that it's priced at about US$350 and you have to fork out an additional $17.50 for a carrying case and $35 for a charging cradle. Seems a wee bit expensive to us for something that's just a crazy gadget. More here in Japanese.