Williams, A. (2007). Portable music and its functions. New York, NY: Peter Lang Pub Inc.
Chapter one: Introudction
  Portable music
  Individual musical experience
  Adapting Bull's analysis to focus on music
  The functions of portable music
  Data collection
   
Chapter two: Chosen sounds and learning
  Function one: Chosen sounds
  Function two: Learning
   
Chapter three: Aestheticisation, environmental control, boundary demarcation, and interpersonal mediation
  Function three: Aestheticisation
  Function four: Environmental control
  Function five: Boundary demarcation
  Function six: Interpersonal mediation
   
Chapter four: Company, aural mnemonic, mood management, time management and activation
  Function seven: Company
  Function eight: Aural mnemonic
  Function nine: Mood management
  Function ten: Time management
  Function eleven: Activation
   
Chapter five: Conclusions
  Bibliography
  Index
 

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Product Description
Using iPods or portable CD players, millions of people take their music with them every day to modify their daily experiences. Encased in headphones, they listen to music for entertainment, but also use it, among other things, as a buffer between themselves and the world outside, and to manage their moods. What is it about music that makes it useful in different ways to so many people? Have people always used music in these ways, or only since the technology of the Walkman and then the mp3 player made music portable? In this wide-ranging exploration of how and why we use portable music, Andrew Williams sheds new light on the role music plays in our everyday lives. Portable Music and Its Functions will be of use to students and scholars of sociology and cultural studies as well as of musicology.

About the Author
Andrew Williams is Adjunct Associate Lecturer in the Elder School of Music at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Portable Music and Its Functions results from his continuing interest in mobile musical experience, which began with his Ph.D. research in ethnomusicology.

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