I prefer quiet. Even back when I was still working and we were permitted to wear headsets and listen to whatever, I opted out. Music that I like distracts me if I’m trying to do something - I can’t concentrate if I’m singing along.
Except in my car. I listen to the local classical station (unless they do opera.) It’s the only background sound that works for me.
I always play music when I’m driving alone. All kinds of music. If there’s really bad weather and/or a road condition that I need to focus on I’ll turn down the volume, but 99% of the time I’m listening to (and singing along with) SiriusXM, MP3s burned to a CD, or my iPod. I got my learner’s permit 37 years ago, but I can still remember begging my mom to let me turn the radio on – low – while I was learning to drive. She finally let me, and was surprised when not only didn’t it distract me, it seemed to help.
When I’m assembling LEGO sets at the kitchen table, I like to have the living room TV on. I can mostly see it from the table (small house), but I live alone and primarily I just want the “company.” In those cases, I always put on streaming repeats of a show I’ve seen many times before: lately it’s been episodes of Elementary. I have no idea why I prefer the sound of people’s voices to music when I’m building those things, but I do.
Oddly enough, I also like to have the TV on when I’m reading (which I do on the couch). The volume has to be very low; barely perceptible. Usually I won’t bother streaming anything: I’ll just find the least-offensive thing being broadcast at the time, and turn the sound way down. Marathons of classic shows are gold!
Another indoor hobby is playing the piano. No background sound needed then. 
I work from home, and most of the time I prefer quiet (like right now). If I’m in the office I’m actually usually playing music, but it has to be a certain volume: I want to be able to hear it, but not be distracted by it. And I hate headphones/earbuds. But I have very good hearing, and I’m a pro at not distracting others: I’ve had officemates sitting just feet away who couldn’t hear what I was playing.
If there’s music while I’m working it’s typically a mix of genres, but if I’m heads-down on a big writing/editing task I’ll put instrumental music on. It can’t be traditional classical, though, because the dynamics vary too much (again, I need just the right volume; I only listen to classical music intentionally). Sometimes it’ll be jazz, or pop/rock (“Classical Gas,” “Cliffs of Dover,” “Axel F,” “Soulful Strut,” “Jessica,” etc.), but for a while now my go-to has been the group Bond. I discovered them sometime between 2004 and 2008, when I was in grad school. I actually just played them for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, because I was doing some proposal writing.
Oooooo, that’s an interesting idea!