Well you are suppose to listen to the scale degrees and the exact tones.

Earphones on iPod if I listen to music late at night when i'm in bed. All other times, loud through computer speakers and base unit :)

I believe good music is perceived in the ears, not through the hardware.

Yeah, I agree with that, though nicer hardware can help with the enjoyment of music, I find. How do you perceive good music?

that's not a bad idea either but i think some artist you won't get right away unless you familiarise yourself with them first and how do you that? repetition.

And what better way to not get bored of repetition than putting the music as a background while you do other stuff? this way you can go on with your mundane routine WHILE familiarising yourself with the artist

Plus think of it like this, has a song ever grown on you because you heard it a bunch of times?
Some stuff you don't like right away it takes awhile to sink in that's why i think BOTH your way of listening to music and my way to listening to music work, we can have both!

we can put it on the background OR strictly focus on the music at the end they both work

Yeah, quite a few of my favorite songs/albums were not very enjoyable on the first listen or two. I think this is a great idea, and I just bought some new music the other day, so I'll have to try it out!

At one point, I think I may have been under the impression that either listening to music in the foreground or background would "train" your brain to listen to it one way or another, but now that I think about it, it sounds kind of silly. :crazy:

It's not that silly actually it's 2 different ways to process music..

for exmpl,
let's say a good friend recommends you a band but you don't quite them at first.. just put that their music on the background and let it sink in for awhile most likely by like the 3rd time you do this you will already have a fav song or even a fav moment in a song and that's it! that's all you need that initial hook to start getting interested on them

on contrast if you're listening really carefully to a new band and all your focus is on that your appreciation also come with expectations and if those expectations aren't met right away you may dismiss the band and years later eventually like them (That happened to me with Stone temple pilots i used to hate them)

in a way, you never know why you might be into.. you know what you like but there are other stuff to like ya know?

Yeah, also when I throw on new music and try to listen to it without distractions, I tend to zone out easily. I don't know if it's just me, or the music being new.

As far as dismissing music, I know what you mean. I'd hate to blow off an album, only to find I like it in the long run!

I just listen to music on my iPhone.

My favorite place is in my car. It's a sound cocoon.