When I'm serious about code (in a business setting), I favor pairing for code. But sometimes there are situations where head's-down code crankin' is in order. In which case, I put the headphones on and get to business. I've had various discussions with folks and have seen things mentioned about the 'tubes and it seems that the most common flavors are: Metal and Trance.
My favorite is Trance, specifically Vocal Trance like that found on the Vocal Trance channel on www.di.fm.
I was pleased to learn that the venerable Jean-Paul Boodhoo shares my taste in music (Zero = One = Everything, also heard on the DI.FM Vocal Trance channel).
I occasionally see people mentioning various metal bands like AC/DC, Metallica, Tool, KoRn, etc.
I prefer Trance because of it's driving beats and repetition -- it seems to keep the ADD part of my brain busy processing the complex music so that the productive part of my brain can keep focused and productive :)
What do you folks prefer? Am I missing something else interesting.
Because I love di.fm so much, I'm willing to give a 1 Month PREMIUM DI.FM gift certificate to the first poster who write's a >100 word blog post about their experience with TDD. Drop a comment here with a link and I'll email you the certificate!