Writer's Block: Music for Thought
Music at work usually drives me nuts if I didn't choose to put it on myself. Which makes it all the stranger that there are times I *have* to have it on to focus/concentrate/motivate... My tastes fluctuate, but one constant is that if I'm doing a particularly heavy stint of data entry or putting together a large mailing/presentation materials, I have to have Techno/Club/Electronic music playing.
Other than that, it depends on my mood for the day - anything from classical to Brit Pop. A lot of world music and holiday stuff at, well, holidays. :-) I'm *really* fond of internet radio stations (e.g. Live365) as they provide a host of theme stations with few or no commercials - I can pick my theme for the day when I boot up in the morning. I prefer stations to my own music collection because I need the freshness of the unexpected - I get in a rut if I listen to my own stuff.
If I'm at home, unfortunately it's usually the TV that provides the background noise when I'm working on projects and stuff - I rarely listen to music at home.