Earphones / Headphones: Where to try, what to buy?

I was'nt saying that. I was just pointing out why you need to be more aware of things behind you when your cycling, in comparision with driving.

I went for a ride with my Ipod a couple of weeks ago as it happens. Figured snow riding, on a quite out of town road, in the dark, with some tunes.....nice.

Hit some ice moguls on a steep hill, which started throughing the bike all over the place (was going far too fast), just as my Ipod saw fit to select some Prodigy.

Fair enough i'll agree that you need to be more aware when cycling. But my point still stands, because someone is wearing headphones, it does not make them less aware. In fact, I find the opposite, I find myself looking around much more when wearing headphones. And i'd rather have much higher awareness of my surroundings using sight than being required to rely on my hearing.

On the last point, I had a similar experience, 2nd driving lesson, Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart came on the radio, country lanes, wet winter evening, 50+mph, little Nissan Micra, ahh, good times indeed.