Trance can get me in to the zone faster than anything else out there, music or otherwise. Granted, I prefer progressive to psy, but everyone has his own preference.
Since it doesn't seem taboo to plug your own business on this site, I'll shamelessly promote one of my own non-software ventures: http://cdbaby.com/cd/trevisr/
I agree with the title of this post, but don't really get what the referenced post is supposed to do in order to help. I think the topic is really interesting and I'd like to know what other hacks are listening to.
I posted "Coding In Flow - Does Music Get You Higher?" on my blog in 2006 on the very same topic listing my favorite music for certain development tasks.
Good music is important for me to get into "deep hack mode". Usually, it's house, trance or something like that. One day last week though, though I had David Wilcox's "Do the Bearcat" on repeat for about 2 hours. It was the most productive 2 hours I've had in a month.
The internet radio stations I listen to for programming music require each mix (song) to be between 45 and 90 minutes, not fade or do other distracting effects, and a couple other basic rules that make it quite good for programming.
I'm actually trying to make lists of the best programming music now. First, I'm collecting databases of all the music I can find. The electronic genres are the most elusive... I have a database listing about 16MM tracks and mixes now. Once I get all that I'll finish making those lists.
I have found some decent web stations, but for the most part I just rip hundreds of tracks from dozens of stations at a time and pluck out the couple good songs and then repeat.
I've discovered a lot of "programming music" using last.fm, and I totally agree on elecronic/trance for background. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Boards of Canada. I can't recommend them enough.
