Register Hardware

Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09/10/sony_rolls_out_rolly/

Sony rolls out roll-along music player

By Tony Smith
Published Monday 10th September 2007 10:38 GMT

Is Sony's new portable music playar an attempt to cash in on the Rugby World Cup? With its ovoid shape, the Rolly certainly has a football feel, but instead of air, this ball packs in an MP3 player, funky coloured lights and a pair of loudspeakers. And it moves.

Sony Rolly
Sony's Rolly: palm sized music player

The palm-sized gadget - model number SEP-10BT - has 1GB of on-board storage, which you can fill from a PC connected by USB or Bluetooth. The unit plays MP3 files, but unlike Sony's newest Walkman players (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/08/30/ifa_sony_walkman_series/), retains Sony's own Atrac format in place of Windows Media Audio. It can play out loud songs streamed over Bluetooth, too.

Sony Rolly
Sony's Rolly: brings its own light-show

The 300g player has its own rechargeable battery which is good for five hours' music playback. Switch on Rolly's multi-coloured lighting and its ability to... well... roll along on its own, and play time drops to four hours, Sony said.

Sony Rolly
Sony's Rolly: it rolls - but does it rock?

The motion's controlled by an on-board program, but Rolly comes with PC-based Motion Editor software that allows you to enter your own boogie moves for the gizmo. It has six moving parts: the central, coloured wheels; the shoulder sections and the flap-out 'arms', which open to reveal the speaker ports.

OK, so it's not Aibo, Sony's robot dog, but we can see this one playing well with the kiddies and proving a conversation piece for dinner-party guests. And for gadget lovers, it's just too wierd to resist.

Sony's selling Rolly in Japan for ¥39,800 ($351/£173/€255).