iPod Use

Describe an average day of iPod use. Go through the activities you are undertaking during your listening experience and the places you travel through/stay in during them.

What motivates you to listen to your iPod on an average day?

How do you go about selecting the music you listen to? Do you hand pick songs/albums, select premade playlists or do you use the shuffle function, i.e. is there a science to your music selection (through mood, time, place etc.) or is it more incidental? If you pick your music manually, what influences your decision?

Whilst you are listening to your iPod, to what extent do you become ‘tuned out’ from the ‘outside world’? Do you still acknowledge people and places or do you tend to shut externalities out?

If you do become ‘tuned out’ to a certain degree, is this a factor of iPod use that is favourable to you? Is this ‘tuning out’ aspect of iPod use part of the reason you choose to listen to music in public spaces? Why is ‘tuning out’ from the external world favourable?

How much control do you believe you have over shutting externalities out, i.e. do the images and noises of the ‘outside world’ still impact upon you?

How does the music you listen to make you feel and how does this affect the way you see the place(s) you are in? If possible, give specific, personally notable examples of when certain music has made a significant impact on your mindset and/or view of a place.

What kind of relationship do you feel is created between the music you are listening to on your iPod and the place(s) you are in?

Giving examples if possible, how do different genres/artists/songs resonate differently for you in the various contexts you listen to your iPod? Do specific types of music influence your mindset/perception of a place more so than others permanently or does it depend on the time and place?