Are podcasts less distracting than music when programming?

Absolutely not. I cannot listen to people talking about anything and focus on my programming tasks. Podcasts are great for driving or doing chores around the house/yard, but I'd rather listen to music while I write code.

Only if I really, really don't care about the content, the talent isn't annoying, and it's turned down really low.

Basically like a background conversation I'm not invested in.

Words tend to steal my focus, including songs with lyrics.

I like the lofi stations on YouTube.

Can't listen to people talk, it distracts me. I recently discovered endel.io and never went a day without it (I am not affiliated with them, but paying subscriber)

I certainly don’t think so — at least not for me. Anything with a voice (even in a language that I don’t understand) seems to chip away at my concentration.

Not for me. Even music with lyrics is likely to be distracting.