Creative practices of mobile music listening

Past research on mobile music listening (a.o. : Bull, 2000, 2007; Thibaud, 1994) has given small interest in the technical aspects of the machine that allows the practice. With the advent of mp3, listening occurs with a device that is more portable than ever. This characteristic has an effect on the use of the machine and also on the practice of listening. It takes place in a shared social space, in specific situations of mobility where the individual connects himself with a personalized musical program and with his own social representations. I’m thus placing my research within a socio-technical approach of mobile music listening. Despite the apparent triviality of the practice of mobile listening, results of a previous exploratory research (undertook in 2012) show that some users witness some creativity and reflexivity within and about their practice. My current fieldwork tries to better understand this assumption and to consider the existence of a new type of mobile music listening. This practice is defined by a creative appropriation of four characteristics: individualization, portability, navigation and organization. Thanks to a mixed method that combines diaries and semi-structured interviews, I wish to show how this appropriation of the listener allows a performance (Hennion, 2002) of listening. I then whish to show their « arts de faire » (de Certeau, 1980) their personal experience in taking into account technical, contextual and social constraints of the practice. In this communication, I will be presenting first interpretations of the data of my fieldwork.