I turned off notifications except for text messages. Not sure of it just vibrates when music is playing or whether it beeps. I've never noticed.

As above, I just use my iPhone for music. I personally think the way of the portable music player is long gone unless there's something new to bring to the mix. Certainly, I remember my pre-mobile phone days (essentially before university), where I had a portable walkman and later a portable CD player. Even during university, with my phones they had such little memory you could probably store one or two longs so I still listened to music via my MiniDisc. The only good thing I liked about it was it was very good for recording live stuff. Otherwise I wish I'd bought an mp3 player at the time.