Sony ships Rolly dancing MP3 player in the US

Sony's dancing portable MP3 player, the Rolly, is now available in Sony Style retail stores across the US, the company announced on Tuesday. As its name suggests, the portable MP3 player "dances" to music by spinning, rolling and flashing its lights. Music can be uploaded to the Rolly via a USB 2.0 connection or streamed through Bluetooth.

While the Rolly is rated at 2GB of storage capacity, only about half of that can be used to store songs, as its software takes up the other half. The player will come preloaded with a song and choreographed moves for each from Richard Strauss, Avril Lavigne and Earth, Wind and Fire. Two other unnamed tracks will be preloaded to help users program their player with their own moves via the included Rolly Choreographer software. The Rolly supports AAC and MP3 formats, and its battery life is rated at 5 hours when music is playing through its twin 20mm Neodymium speakers or 4 hours when dancing to it.

While initially available only in black or white, different colored arms are available in other markets, although Sony has not mentioned when or if the option would come Stateside. The player is available in Sony Style stores now with a retail price of nearly $400.