YES....I am amazed at the people who cannot spend QUIET time with themselves......listening to their thoughts, their homes, their neighborhoods.....NOW, If I could get a music system that would blot out idiots driving like maniacs, the smog of the city, or the construction crews work next door....THEN, maybe, maybe, I'd be interested. I quit a good paying job so I could have QUIET time....but, then, I'd make a good hermit.
Since you're not planning to buy an iPod, drop that coin on a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort headphones. I got them for my husband who travels quite a bit and they are AMAZING! They don't quiet things so much that it's unsafe, but they cut down the ambient noise considerably!
I just got off the a 5 hour bus trip - on Southwest Airlines ;-). It was either plug my in-ear earphones (a bit like ear plugs) into the iPod or listen to screaming babies while going cross country. I chose the iPod.