Abstract
Ownership of MP3 players, such as Apple's iPod, continues to grow at a steady pace in the US. College students are one age group that is active in the adoption of these devices. Based on a uses and gratifications framework, this study examined how college students are using this technology as compared to radio listening. Results showed that more than half of the respondents in a national random sample own some type of MP3 player. Motivations for using the players included boredom, stimulation, entertainment, relaxation/escape, and loneliness. An important finding was that the use of MP3 players appears to be serving as a substitute for listening to traditional radio for this age group.
This manuscript was submitted to editor-elect Michael Brown, who supervised the blind review and made all editorial decisions.
Notes
This manuscript was submitted to editor-elect Michael Brown, who supervised the blind review and made all editorial decisions.
* Items excluded from further analysis.
***p < .001
**p < .01
*p < .05
*p < .05,
***p < .001.
1The five affinity items were: “I would rather use my iPod than do anything else,” “I could easily do without using my iPod for several days [this item was reverse coded],” “I would feel lost without an iPod,” “Whenever I'm unable to use my iPod, I really miss it,” and “Using my iPod is one of the more important things I do each day.”
2The three satisfaction items were: “How valuable did you find your iPod use in the past week?”, “How pleasing was your iPod use during the past week?”, and “How satisfied were you with your use on an iPod during the past week?”
3When extreme outliers (e.g., 900 minutes per typical day) were omitted, predictor variables were unchanged and their beta weights were only slightly different.