> Maybe go without headphones and pay attention to your surroundings instead.

This. Even when you are seemingly quiet on a trail, 90% of wildlife are hiding from you. It’s amazing what happens when you stop and sit in complete silence for 5-10 minutes — a whole hidden world comes alive around you. 10/10, highly recommend.

> I have zero patience for such excuses from people who choose to impose their preferences on other people.

This as well. Somewhere along the way, civics teachings in America’s school left folks w/ the impression that the spirit of our liberty is, “It’s a free country, I can do what I want!”, rather of, “I have the liberty to pursue happiness, up until it infringes on the liberty for others to do so.”

This is domething I realized riding my MTB by night in the forests in the mountains. Thanks to the reflection of all those eyes staring at your headlight you realize the sheer amount of wildlife there is hidden a few meters from you.

To play devils advocate, telling other people to turn off thier music is also "imposing preferences on other people".

I do agree with what they're saying though.