what does everyone think about having radios on in the lab?

I was in one of the labs today on my own, no one else was working in the room so I put the radio on. One of my colleagues came in. I know from previous experience they don't like the radio on, so i said if they were staying i would turn it off. They preceded to say that if people want to listen to music they should use personal stereos and not inflict it on everyone else. I asked if they could hear it in the other room and they said yes, so I said I would turn it down.

I only had it on quietly, the hood I was working in makes a lot of noise and the lab this particular person was in is two rooms down the corridor. So I don't know how I was disturbing anyone else.

I don't want to take my lovely new ipod into the scabby old lab. I was always taught that if you take something into the lab you shouldn't take it out again.

What does everyone think? Am I being unreasonable?

Personally I can't stand having the radio on in the lab (quote from Simpsons' Comic Book Guy: "If I want to listen to mindless droning I'll listen to the air conditioner"), but if I'm outnumbered, as I usually am, I won't complain. I think it is dangerous to use personal headphones in a lab: you can't hear if any equipment is going wrong or alarms are going off.

Pretty much everyone has a radio on in the lab: sounds like she's looking for an excuse to moan. She must have bionic ears if she can hear it two rooms away.

I cannot stand being in a lab without the radio on (especially if i am by myself). You need a radio when you are doing repetative, mindless lab work.

I've got the lab to myself the entire time so I can do what I like. but I'd prefer to have real people to talk to