OK, here's an alternative view from, what I've recently learned is the "fcuking sad" fraternity to contribute to the debate
which will hopefully help to answer the poster's original question:
I'm happy with my combination of Autocom Pro-7 connected to an iPod shuffle 1gb RAM based player and my Sony Ericsson T610 'phone. All of the kit works with no further buttons to press* once riding, which I agree would be bloody distracting/dangerous. I don't use a radio with this, because, as pointed out on a previous reply, the inane chatter of DJ's would be way too distracting whilst riding.
The Autocom is a top piece of kit and allows you to hear the music quite clearly (even wearing earplugs, which I always do) at speeds up to about 100mph. It will also auto mute the music when the 'phone is in use, so you don't have to press buttons to turn off the music. Other folks in this forum are equally impressed with the Starcom system, but I have no personal experience of using that.
I initially used a hard disk based iPod with this setup, but the hard disk conked out after a few months, since it couldn't cope with the continuous vibration on the bike, when sat in my tank bag. I then bought the iPod shuffle (£99 for 1gb RAM, approx 240 songs) which works great. Before I set off on my ride, I press the play button, then it will play all of the tracks in the player to me in a random or preset sequence. No need to touch it again until I get off the bike. You need to load all your CD's onto your PC, then you can easily download them to the iPod using iTunes. You can select which songs to download each time, or tell iTunes to give you a random selection of tracks from your music collection. I don't play the music at earsplitting levels. It's loud enough to hear, but not so loud that it drowns out traffic noise.
The 'phone is also plumbed into this setup. I use this mainly to receive (very occaisional) calls, rather than to call someone else. I have recorded voice tags for the callers in my 'phone book so it will say the name of the caller before auto answering the call, therefore I know who is calling me (assuming they are in my 'phone book of course) before the 'phone auto answers. Being a bloke, I have never spent more than 30 seconds on a 'phone call in my life, so I'm not unduly distracted
If it sounds like it would be a longer call, I tell the caller I'll ring them back when I'm not riding. On the rare occaision I want to make a call whilst on the move, the Sony Ericcson has voiced controlled dialing, so I say a trigger word into the microphone then the name of the person I want to call, and the 'phone calls them. I do however need to press the hangup button on the 'phone to end the call, but since this sits in the map pocket of my tank bag that's not too tricky.
I also have a Garmin Quest GPS on my bike. I'm waiting for an audio cable to plug that into the Autocom too, so I have the spoken instructions piped into my headset. Again, the Autocom will mute music while the Garmin is talking to me.
I do enjoy listening to music while I'm riding. It takes the edge off the constant wind noise and I think improves the riding experience. I don't find it at all distracting, since It's not played too loudly and I can hear the other road noises above it. I can understand if as a musician you concentrate more fully on music, since you're thinking about the technique/style etc. that another musician has used to create a track, that would be too distracting on a bike. Me, I just like a tune I can hum along to
So, In summary, I don't agree with the sort of universal statement that music on a bike is always wrong, or always right, particularly if the statement is made with such authority by someone who has clearly never tried it. It's a personal choice, and as long as you are sensible about the setup and how it is used, it can enhance the riding experience, rather than cause you undue distraction. It causes me no pain, heartache or regret if you choose not to listen to music on a bike
Live long and prosper \\// with, or without, music in your helmet
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* OK, so you got me on the one button on the 'phone I have to press to hang up a call if I have initiated it.
