Some in-car systems have bigger visual displays and steering wheel controls for MP3 players but these do not make it any less distracting for the driver, they found.
Researchers for The Journal of the Human and Ergonomics Society tested 50 motorists aged 18-25 using a driving simulator.
They were asked to negotiate various types of traffic patterns and road conditions while occasionally having to find a song from a playlist or tune into a particular radio station. John D Lee, from the society, reported that the longer the playlist, the more distracted they became.
Drivers look away more often and for longer when searching for a song from a playlist than when tuning the radio.
The study said: "A simple task of selecting a song from a list can seduce you into looking away from the road longer than you might have intended, and long looks away from the road can kill."
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