Sony Rolly Blog : rolly

First Impressions of US (English) Rolly

Auri — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:22:00 GMT

Ok, I received my Black Rolly today... the SEP-30BT... so here are my impressions so far after charging it:

Overall I'm impressed - it's a black Rolly with good storage space and English software. Way cool.
The songs that come with it are different than the Japanese Rolly. It comes with more songs than sound effects. The first song from the Japanese Rolly, the one with the woman singing, is gone. So is the sound animals sound effects track.
The new songs include the 2001 Space Odyssey song - pretty cool, as well as Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend, and Earth, Wind & Fire's Boogie Wonderland. The 2001 rendition is cool when the Rolly studders its ears... The other two songs are pretty entertaining dance pieces. The Music is a Language song from the original Rolly is still there... way cool.
The packaging is different than the Japanese Rolly. Instead of coming in an easy to flip-top box, it comes with a more complicated box. It also doesn't have the really neat fabric on the inside. See my photos below.
The Motion Editor + Soundstage software combo from the Japanese Rolly has been replaced with the Rolly Choreographer software. You can choose to install Choreographer for either USA or Canada, but not both. I'm not sure what the difference is.

By the way, the name of the singer for Music's a Language is Mr. Ray, and it's on his Start Dreaming album from 2001. You should find it in the Kids section of a music store.. I couldn't download it on Zune - bummer!

In addition to instaling Rolly Choreographer, the installer throws in OpenMG Secure Module and OpenMG Limited Patch. I don't know what these do... They're related to Sony's copy protection technologies and are not an optional install. As long as it doesn't mess up my CDs like the Sony BMG copy protected CD rootkit fiasco from years ago... I know some people are paranoid about this stuff, so you can find out more info about OpenMG here. It's understandable that Sony would want copy protection, but I don't understand why this is necessary if the device plays MP3s, which are "open."

Note that the OpenMG software takes almost 10 (!!!) whole minutes to install. I don't know what it's installing, but that's a long time. The entire software installation took about 20 minutes.
I don't recall the Japanese version installing OpenMG... Does anyone recall if it does/did?

After installing the software it wanted me to restart, so fyi before you install :)
The Black Rolly is WAYYYY cool looking. I need to change its ears to Red, though ;)

The full size versions of the photos can be found in the Photo Gallery.

More info is coming after my system comes back up since I can't keep posts open in between restarts <grin>...

Rolly Hits U.S. Store Shelves! It's Here! Finally!

Auri — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:05:00 GMT

I've already ordered a black one! I can't wait to try the software! Thanks, Rolly Team!

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/20/sony-rolly-finally-brings-the-party-stateside/

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.

Online Petition: Let's tell Sony to bring the Rolly to the U.S. and other countries!

Auri — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:22:00 GMT

Ok friends, we need to make our voices heard! Let's give everyone the chance to enjoy Rolly!

I've started an online petition - let's get as many signatures as possible and get the Rolly to the U.S.!

Here's the link! Once we have at least 1000 signatures I'm going to ship it to Sony! C'mon! Let's go!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Sony_Rolly_Export

What experiences have you had on installing on non-Japanese Windows?

Auri — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 05:27:00 GMT

OK, so I know if you change the install config file so the language reads ENGLISH instead of JAPANESE, you can install the SonicStage software easily on U.S. Windows. HOWEVER, has anyone had luck with getting the Motion Editor to install?

I spent four hours trying to hack that stupid installer... Need to keep trying :)

Anyone want to work together on it? Comment or IM me please!

-Auri

Welcome! Good things are coming!

Auri — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:37:00 GMT

Ok, the site has finally been prettied up. The forums and blog are up, and now it's up to me to add content.

So what's here? Well, I've re-posted the tutorial for adding music, and the English version of the Rolly manual.

Coming soon are tips and techniques for getting the Rolly working on the English or any other non-Japanese version of Windows.

I already have the SonicStage software working. Now to that darn Motion Editor that's so cool!

Talk to ya soon!

-Auri