There is also a shake-to-shuffle mode, but be warned, the Rolly isn't the ideal shape to hold when shaking. Cue Wii-style $5m lawsuits?

Loves the Foo Fighters...

The device comes with a Windows-only application called Rolly Choreographer which allows you to transfer MP3 and AAC files to the device and create custom dance routines. In the interests of science, we also dropped a track directly onto the Rolly using an Acer Aspire One netbook and it promptly shimmied its way through the song with nary a pause, so Mac and Linux users aren't completely left out in the rain.

At this point, it would have given us certain satisfaction to report that the Rolly is a hopeless waste of money and plastic, but to be honest watching it can be curiously hypnotic, especially when the choreography was been well planned.

Our review device came with three pre-loaded tracks, including the Foo Fighter's song The Pretender. The dance routine for this was frankly superb, the Rolly twitching, jiggling, flashing and spinning like a Dervish on speed.

Left to its own devices, the Rolly's dancing is a little less impressive and highly dependent on the music. Propaganda's album Secret Wish produced some nice moves – down to the exaggerated stereo effects and interesting harmony lines, we would guess, while Mozart's Requiem resulted in the gadget just sort of sitting there and flapping a bit.

...hates Mozart

More surprisingly, the automatic dance routine for Katy Perry's Hot'n'Cold was very subdued, suggesting it takes more than a simple beat to get the Rolly's creative juices flowing.