Any chain gym uses a music service, like restaurants and stores, they don't want to pay performance royalties. In the past the recording industry ignored independents who played their own collections, but that's changing as they are scrounging for every last cent. Watch for changes at the little coffee shop that always plays a great mix off somebody's ipod. Already music services provide their cheapest customers only remakes with semi-soundalike singers.

In a couple of years, Tony Soprano won't be able to choose the original "Don't Stop Believing" a diner. It'll be a remake with an even more annoying singer.

It's very inspirational. I pretend I'm out in the fields, singing along, in a perfectly choreographed routine of stoop, pick, stoop, pick, stoop, pick. It makes the time go quickly. Try it, and you'll be hooked.

...it is barely audible over the noise generated by the cardio machines and the fans.

I actually like listening to podcasts at the gym--Wait Wait Don't Tell me is good, it makes me laugh. This American Life is hit or miss. These seem to work for either cardio or doing weights.

When I run (outside) I like Erasure, New Order, and other 80s synth-pop. I'm also fond of The Chemical Brothers and Orbital. My very favorite running album, though, is--go ahead and laugh--Cher's Believe. The You-Go-Girl!-iness of it is perfect for when I'm having a difficult run.

Most gyms that I have attended play a steady diet of classic rock crap...you know, ungodly shit like Journey? :P~

My iPod is heavy on bands like Ministry, Lords of Acid, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Motorhead, Rage, Sisters of Mercy, Jane's Addiction and a lot of old punk. It helps with lifting, and even makes the despised cardio time pass reasonably well.

I once went to a gym here in NYC where not only did they play horrible techno, but some genius decided that not only did we want to hear that stuff out on the floor -- we also wanted to hear it in the locker room, at precisely the same volume as it was out on the floor. Without the sounds of machines to partially drown it out, the music in the locker rooms was defeaning. I complained to the manager about three times, to no effect. What are people thinking?

GYMS SHOULD NOT PLAY MUSIC. Or have 24-hour TVs. WHY WHY WHY is this obnoxious sound and chatter imposed on us all in public places? God invented the iPod and headphones, remember? Our brains respond to music, but we're each wired and tuned differently and have had different emotional experiences with music. What is soothing or energizing for one person jangles another's nerves. Mozart's "Requiem" works to zone out one person, "Soldier's Joy" zones out someone else. A few minutes of metallic music makes me crazy, and some amplified music sits on the edge of pain. Who needs it to be held hostage to this? What's wrong with a little quiet? Bring back white noise. In a waterfall is the preservation of the world.

Last summer I tried out Curves locally. I liked the equipment and the quick pace. I liked the fact I could get in and out of there in 35-40 minutes. But the over-the-top music peppered with three-minute intervals of "change stations now!" proved too much for me. I described it to my sister as, "Star Wars and Superman themes on crack." I couldn't continue. No do. No dues!

Well, I don't really like RHCP's new stuff, either... even though they've become massively more successful. "Dani California" being so popular kind of escapes me.. must be a commentary on how bad (pop) music is these days..

That drag queen diva dance remix shit they play is bad enough but if I had to hear one more Chili Peppers song about California or one more OAR tune with the word "I" repeated 30 million dozen times I would actually have to beat someone to death with a free weight.

Right now I've been playing Red Hot Chili Peppers ("Mother's Milk") and Orange Range ("Musiq") every workout. Orange Range is a little like a Japanese Chili Peppers -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Range , but with more techno (yes..) and pop.

The humor and tempo of both keep me going, with just enough soul and emotion but not enough to be distracting when I'm a dripping, drooling mess on the leg machine.

I'm an old geezer and listen mostly to 60's music, but I discovered that for some strange reason Green Day's American Idiot is great exercise music. There is just something about it that makes me want to move (and not much does that for me these days).

I listen on my iPod, and recently added noise-cancelling headphones for the gym to try to muffle their horrible background music.

After doing 10 years of gyms here in Chicago, I have to say the best policy was that of the first ine I went to, affiliated with a university. They had listed times of when they would be playing certain music in three hour blocks, shifted the rotations every six weeks, and stuck to it.

As I shifted from neighborhood to neighborhood, I experienced the silence of a local Y (you could here the elderly's joints crack), the Thuggin Love soundtrack of a Bally's where they allowed the tykes to play Grand Theft Auto in the playroom, and a gym downtown where it was primarily Cher themed techno. To be honest, I can see why they do the techno...it is for the most part inoffensive, upbeat, and can be tuned out pretty easy when lifting. Now I workout here in hidden suburbia, where people like the classic rock as they sit at the juice bar that serves Doritios, and you can watch others work out.

For the record, the best music to work out to is Bad Religion, NOFX, et. al for cardio, Tool, Sunny Day Real Estate while lifting.

I understand the music in most of the gym, but I truly don't get it in the area with the cardio machines. People doing aerobics on these machines are either watching and listening to whatever is on the individual video at each machine, or they're listening to their iPod/CD player, or, like me, THEY'RE TRYING TO READ!!!! The last thing any of these people needs is extraneous music. Why doesn't anybody in gym management seem to get that?