I think you're talking about light aircraft - the guys in the Private Flying forum will have lots of good info for you.
I'm pretty sure there's a way of rigging up a music player which cuts out if there's R/T traffic. Failing that, as has been said, you can tune radio stations on the ADF. I spent many a VFR cross-country nav in the states with Arizona Gold on in the background - all the hits, no commercials!
