Wowee, that gosh dang article was WAY longer than one of Sam's blogs!  Just kidding Sam, you know I enjoy reading your blogs!  Anyway, I would say that particular experiment was not exactly scientific, and I wouldn't draw the same conclusions about the outcome either.  True, it is unfortunate that more people didn't stop to listen, but I don't think it's unexpected. 

I've been involved in music most of my life, both growing up and professionally and I have a great appreciation of music.  I would usually rather listen to music than listening to someone's incessant talking.  But there is a time and place for everything, and in different situations I have different priorities.  If I'm rushing to catch a train, is it worth possibly missing my train to stop and listen?  No. 

In fact, I ran in to the exact opposite situation today.  The wife and I went out to the Arthur Ripley Desert Woodlands.  Very beautiful and serene, with Joshua trees everywhere.  We were the only ones there at first, then we heard voices.  We come around the trail and there is this poor guy just trying to take some nice nature pictures and next to him is this lady yakking her head off about gossipy city stuff!  I felt bad for the guy, even my wife was irritated!  There is a time and place for EVERYTHING, and yakking incessantly in the beautiful desert is just plain WRONG! 

Thanks for the article, it was fun reading.