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Scott Schwebel was busy at work and didn't want to be bothered. So when a colleague approached with a question, Schwebel did what he thought was appropriate.

He took out one, not two, of his iPod ear buds.

"That annoys the hell out of me," said his colleague, Tim McKee, who used the opportunity to give his co-worker at Hanson Dodge in Milwaukee, a little manners lesson.

"I said, 'Dude, take that out,' " McKee recalled. "It's that whole, 'Are you listening to me, or are you listening to music?' "

And so it goes in this age of evolving technology and etiquette. As iPods — digital, portable music players — continue to be the pop-culture symbol for concentration and cool, people are shuffling to define MP3 manners.

Wear an iPod during high school geometry? Rude.

Take one ear bud out when a flight attendant is taking your drink order? Tolerated.

Keep it on at work? It all depends.

"Nobody sets the rules for these things," said Alex Halavais, a professor who studies the social effects of technology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. A few years ago, Halavais was flabbergasted when students stopped by his office for help but left one iPod ear bud in the ear. Today, he's come to expect it.

Since iPods were introduced by Apple in 2002, more than 42 million have been sold around the world. In 2005, more than 15.7 million were sold in the United States, more than double the 6 million sold in 2004 — and those numbers don't include sales over the Internet or at Wal-Mart, according to Leander Kahney, author of "The Cult of iPod," and the NPD Group, a marketing and research firm.

At this rate, iPods are expected to surpass the popularity that Sony Walkmans had in the 1980s, said Kahney, who also is managing editor of Wired magazine.

There are a few possible reasons why iPods continue to be a pop-culture "must-have," from people enjoying technology they've never had before to simple fashion.

People also love iPods because Internet downloads and podcasts meet society's current need to personalize the products they use and put them in touch with a network of people around the world, he added.

Which isn't always a good thing for the people right in front of your face.

Just ask the employees at Milwaukee's New Urban Salon. Nearly half of the staff have their own iPods, and therefore their own music collections. But only one iPod can be plugged into the salon's overhead speakers at a time.

As a result, there are daily debates between whether to listen to Frank Sinatra or Parliament. Some employees go as far as to sneak their iPod into the speakers when another iPod owner isn't looking.

To avoid major battles, salon owner Nick Papageorgio keeps the stereo close to his chair and personally monitors the overhead listening, preaching "equal time for everybody."

"That's the only way in a large operation like this that it's going to be fair," he said.

Some places have banned the trendy gadgets altogether. At Nicolet High School in Glendale, Wis., students with iPods are required to keep them in their lockers during the school day. If they don't, they face a range of punishments that start with a warning and culminate with confiscation.

"It isn't our first job to be iPod police," said Principal Elliott Moeser.

Peter Post, great-grandson of etiquette maven Emily Post, called the one-bud solution ridiculous.

Post said technology doesn't have to mean less etiquette as long as users never stop communicating and building relationships with each other. He can't imagine a scenario when leaving one ear bud in would be good manners.