I listen to anything really but music only works well when I have a clear idea of what I want to do. For example, I can't listen to music when I'm struggling to create a part of a layout. It's too off-putting.
Depending on my mood I listen to different things, if I can I generally talk to people via voice on steam so I have some human interaction and can bounce ideas off of if needed.
I listen to the radio because my music collection is rather small. In case I need some variation/radio plays crap, I go to Grooveshark or Spotify. If I do listen to my own collection, it's usually some game music.
Depends on the theme. For my Luna map (which I had to redo because of massive visleaves issues) I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, particularly Dark Side Of The Moon.
My library is generally stocked with things from Ocremix, although lately I've been hooked on some of the Neotokyo soundtrack. (Certain tracks, anyway.)
I think I like Movie/Game soundtracks for two reasons.
Usually no vocals. If I'm programming something, I don't have to bother trying to interpret irrelevant incoming language, and it makes it easier to write. My left hemisphere can concentrate on one thing. In some cases, I'll really like a song, but hate the lyrics.
For many of them, when you first hear them you have a strong emotional association. The sweeping score as the battle commences, the sad melody as a character dies, etc. For better or worse these associations get bundled, so later the same tune has more emotional content.
Listening now to: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPUp2PiCYBY"]YouTube - Ed Harrison - Tin Soldiers [Neotokyo OST][/ame]
I like the bit that starts at 4:54
From what I can tell, a LOT of tf2 mappers like to listen to propane nightmares. Personally I don't have music, as I don't have a strong collection of lyric-less music.
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