Sony on a Roll with New MP3 Player

And you thought MP3 players only played music. Sony's newest device is like a dance party in a can, or egg, really.

It’s the MP3 player that only Japan could dream up. After building hype for weeks with a cryptic promotional page, Sony has finally launched the Rolly MP3 player, an egg-shaped device with bands of LEDs around it and spoon-shaped dishes at its ends. What’s the point? It dances on the floor.

Yes, lay the Rolly on the floor and it rolls with the music, spinning, pivoting its creepy little arms, lighting up and whirring in circles. The player can move on its own or be programmed by users with a special editing program on a computer. As far as MP3 player stats are concerned, it comes with a meager 1GB or memory and battery life is just 5 hours. But it dances.

Who asked for this? We’re not quite sure, but believe it or not there’s actually competition for this type of device in Japan. Toyko-based ZMP Inc. builds a robot called the Miuro [PDF] that looks mysteriously similar and performs the exact same function, only using an iPod as a music source.

If you’re dead set on your own dancing robot automaton, the bad (or good, for the rest of us) news is that these things will only be coming out in Japan. They’ll cost ¥40,000 when they launch on Sept. 29, the equivalent of $353 USD.