We've always been skeptical of Rolly's purpose, but Associated Press business writer Rachel Metz isn't pulling any punches when it comes to reviewing Sony's MP3-playing dance-bot. She calls it a mere conversation-starter "if your dancing hamster has run off", notes that the $400 toy lacks a headphone jack, and scoffs at the 2GB of storage. She also offers that while she gets the notion of the Rolly as a programmable bot with its "Rolly Choreography" software, she had a hard time justifying the time it took to just get through one song (30 minutes of tweaking for 20 seconds of bot action). We're not about to defend the Rolly's place in life, but let's be fair: Rolly isn't meant to solve problems: it's meant to confuse AP writers, scare cats, and get hacked to all oblivion.

[Via BoingBoing]

Everybody's favorite dancing robot of questionable utility from Sony is finally making its way across that big wet thing that divides the fair lands of Japan and USA. The Rolly, in case you missed it, is tiny little wheeled bot that can blast some tunes out of its built-in speakers, move its cute little appendages to the music and spin around for that full-on dancing robot experience. The bot comes with pre-choreographed songs ("Also Sprach Zarathustra," Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" and Earth Wind and Fire's "Boogie Wonderland" -- all particular favorites of the Engadget staff), or you can use the choreography software to generate a dance for own tunes, or even program the dance yourself. The 2GB bot comes in black or white, and is available now online or in Sony Style stores for $400.

Sony just turned out the Rolly music player in black. A surprise blown by the FCC just last week. At least we can wonder at the colorful end-caps at a cost of ¥1,500 (about $15) per. Of course, if you scoffed at the original Rolly, then the April 19th, Japanese release of the new ¥40,000 (about $400) dancing-speaker bot won't likely tug at your pawnshopped heartstrings either.

[Via Impress]

Okay, so after watching this thing bust a move on video, we actually aren't as perplexed by it as we once were, but there's no denying that Sony's Rolly is quite the curious character. Nevertheless, the SEP-30BT (opposed to Japan's SEP-10BT) has hurtled itself into the open arms of the FCC, assuring Americans that the time has almost come. There's nothing too shocking within the 70 (!) page manual, but if you just can't wait for this critter to land at your doorstep, tap the read link below and eat your heart out.

Everyone's favorite, lovable, and totally confusing music player / dancing speaker is coming to the States this spring. As we've extensively detailed, the odd little oval is packed with all kinds of zany abilities, not the least of which is playing MP3 or AAC files via Bluetooth with A2DP off of its 2GB (which is an improvement on the Japanese version's 1GB) of flash memory. No word on price right now, but you won't care once you see how darn cute the little guy is.

Most Americans have yet to get a taste of Sony's Rolly speakerbot, and while we may finally see the little critter, um, roll our way sometime next year according to company prez Stan Glasgow, Japan is already getting its first special edition of the lively MP3 player. Christmas Rolly -- on sale immediately for ¥41,800 ($380) and shipping December 19th -- comes preloaded with Japanese takes on traditional holiday favorites such as Santa Claus is Coming to Town and White Christmas, along with the accompanying pre-programmed "dance moves" -- though frankly we're at a loss as to how a two-wheeled robot gets down to Silent Night. Those folks on a budget who can't live without the special six-pack of tunes will also be able to find them on Sony's Christmas edition of the NW-E013 DAP, on sale next month for only ¥10,980 ($99).

[Via Impress]

Check your servos Rolly and Miuro, there's a new media playing robot in town by the foreboding name of "Murider." The new bot from Woori features a 4.3-inch display for watching DMB mobile television and support for audio playback when sourced from USB-connected devices or SD cards. Details are scant but it's said to stand (not roll) and a bust out a little dance with appropriately timed flashing lights. Oh, and it'll do so for a fraction of the price of its peers. Just don't be surprised to find little rolly muttering "Redirum, redirum" in response to this budget repetition of past events.

If you don't get nauseated by watching things spin round and round, over and over, you might wanna check out Akihabara News' HD video of Sony's upcoming Rolly speakerbot performing its limited suite of dance moves (embedded after the break), which should give you a good sense of whether or not you'll want to save up a little more money and go with Miuro the robotic iPod dock instead.

The Sony Rolly SEP-10BT "Sound Entertainment Player" is here, people, and yet we're still just as unclear as ever as to exactly what it's utility is. Not quite a domestic robot, not quite a portable audio player, not quite a boombox, the Rolly flutters about, dancing and playing MP3, ATRAC, or AAC tunes via either Bluetooth with A2DP / AVRCP or its 1GB of internal memory. In fact, not only does Rolly dance to your music, apparently you can also choreograph it and share your Rolly moves with pals over the internet. A full charge gets you five hours straight music, four hours of dance and music, or three and a half hours dancing, music, and Bluetooth use together -- fantastic news for people with a clean desk and tons of time to kill. It'll run you about ¥40,000 (about $350 US) when it lands in Japan September 29th. Video after the break.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Sony's official Rolly blog has confirmed what we already thought: Rolly is in fact a digital audio player without a display. They also claim that it has only one button which controls the "play / stop" of audio and is "basically the only button you use." Although this picture shows what appears to be a cluster of three in addition to a glowing blue, elliptical button. Of course, as we've seen in the Walkman W910 phone, Sony offers other ways to control music without buttons. Namely, an accelerometer coupled with Sony's new Shake control software would allow you to flick the Rolly right or left to advance or jump-back tracks; shake it to shuffle-up the music. That would be particularly useful in Bluetooth-shy Japan where Rolly is being heavily marketed. Whatever the case, Rolly is surely more than just a DAP as we've seen in the video, but that's as much as Sony will own-up to for the time being.

Update: Well what do you know, digital lifestyles spoke to some "senior" Sony sources who consider Rolly a "music-focused Wii on wheels." Seems like an integrated accelerometer with Shake control might be in the cards, indeed.

Elaborate viral hoax or next-gen viral ad, that Sony Rolly video has pretty much everyone talking but Sony. We asked Sylvia Shin from Sony Corporate Communications Europe about the Rolly, and while she confirmed she had seen it on Engadget, she of course would say nothing of its actual existence. She did say that rumors of such a device showing up at IFA or being associated with the new Walkman players were not true, so it looks like we'll have to play the waiting game on this one -- we certainly asked to be the first to know if Sony does indeed decide to announce such a product.

Ok inspectors Engadget, here's Sony's Rolly back for an encore. We went frame-by-frame through our higher quality copy of the video to try and understand our little friend just a wee bit better. From what we can tell, this thing really moves. At first we thought maybe, just maybe we were looking at some slick animation of a static device. Not anymore, those two protruding rings provide the locomotion while each end of the egg spins freely of both the rings and that Sony branded trunk. They've also stuffed a pair of speakers into each end and covered them by those independently juddering end-caps. The device itself is very clean. A Sony logo is printed front-center; a Rolly logo 180-degrees opposite next to a small, possibly 3-button control panel; a (sometimes) illuminated blue ellipse bottom-center, and some unidentified jacks (or just a lanyard anchor, perhaps) up top. There's no display anywhere to be found. Take a look at the gallery and let us know what you think: Bluetooth speaker-bot, full blown DAP, a Sony / ZMP hookup, or something else entirely more menacing than even ATRAC?

It's weird and it's hot and we likey... a lot.

Here it is, Sony's Rolly which looks (and appears to act) just like a mini robotic Miuro. You'll know as much as we do about it once you disco on through to the video.

[Thanks, diogo]

Remember Sony's rumored Rolly something-or-other? Well, it's official with a full-blown Rolly teaser campaign launched by Sony in Japan. No details other than confirmation of its audio entertainment roots. By the looks of things, we'll be getting the full poop around September 10th when the "Rolly Special Party" kicks off. Gotta say, it's been awhile since we've seen Sony market a new product so heavily. And with keywords such as "communication," "small," "share," "free," "shuffle," and "kurukuru" (translated: go round and round) splattered around the page, color us intrigued -- although barely after being subjected to a gaggle of giggling chicks in the throes of the chicken dance. See what we mean after the break, if you dare.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Read -- Rolly special party registration
Read -- Rolly-show Blog
Read -- Rolly

We've got the rumor mill to thank for this one, but an elusive video (since removed, go figure) reportedly depicted a newfangled Walkman in the shape of an egg. 'Course, this form factor certainly isn't new for a DAP, but it sounds like Sony may be giving it a whirl with the introduction of the "Rolly." Supposedly, a snippet of the video is displayed above, but it sure doesn't expose much. Little is currently known (or presumed) about the device at the moment, but we are hearing that it will boast an integrated speaker for whatever that's worth. We'll be keeping an ear to the ground for further developments.

[Via Pocket-Lint, thanks Elliott]