Usually via YouTube if its a lengthy video with minor interruption.

That said, I do like to listen to CDs that do not have vocals - such as a film soundtrack.  They are a good way to judge how much work you are actually getting done, by pausing everytime there is an interruption.

Edit: sorry, I didn't realise there was a previous page and the actual question being asked.  I honestly don't have a problem with running music on the same machine unless you want background music to be uninterrupted if you are not always using the computer to do all your work.  For example, you might be doing sketches by hand or trying out a music tune on your geee-tarrr.

That said, its just given me an idea as I do my development at home; if you have background music - not head banging or too loud - it might be an indication to others that you are working and not to be interrupted...

12 hours ago, Anri said:

it might be an indication to others that you are working and not to be interrupted...

It not applicable to litle cudate furry black home devil also known as cat

I think I used to have the problem @L. Spiro mentioned long time ago when we only have dual core cpu at most. Basically the CPU resources are all used up by the compiler or other tools, and leave too little resources for the MP3 player. The music becomes stuttering.

So it depends on your work load and the machine you have. 

One more thing is, I think most machine right now reads music as a file (we used to have analog cable routed to the sound card, and the cd drive has its own dac). One problem is if the CD is too damaged that the drive can't read, your machine might becomes stalled (or even crash) as the application waits for the data to come. MP3 or file-base music also has this kind of problem as well, but I think you'll see much worse problem before you can open the music file :P.

12 hours ago, Fulcrum.013 said:

It not applicable to litle cudate furry black home devil also known as cat

LOL! So true! Damn them and their feline grace! 

I program much better when I put on music than when I don't. I find when I program in silence, I make mistakes, get frustrated at the code and myself, and eventually shut down mentally. If I put on some music, it soothes my thinking, and if I get frustrated, I can turn my mind to the music for a second and get lost in thought. I normally listen to heavy metal when drawing/writing, Black Sabbath, Dio, AC/DC, Motorhead, Black Label Society, Pantera, but when I code, I find Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi better.

And, no, it doesn't seem to impact performance at all.

Lol. Well, I meant impact performance of the computer, but, yes, music at first can be a distraction to beginners. And, even though I have been programming for nearly 16 years, I still try to avoid music with words, or any music I am not well acquainted to! Heh.

4 hours ago, Bernord said:

then it is two inputs coming at once and brain memorizes everything slower

Just play a music on language that you not understand yet, or ever better on language that you currently studing. Сontent of song could not load a brain, but you will remember a proper pronouncing of worls by the way.