I play with headphones, so I love using the ninja perk and running around in complete silence.  However, it occurs to me that a lot of people don't play with headphones and they play with music in the background, which makes me running in silence a non-issue.  So am I just wasting this perk? 

No, footsteps are pretty noisy, even without them. Either that or I have super hearing. 

I enjoy playing with headphones at high volume, so I use Ninja Pro, I can't stand the sound of my own footsteps

I use ninja all the time. Idk if its all that useful either, but it seems that way

I don't know but my brother uses it and just follows members of the other team around for as long as he can without them noticing. He has some pretty funny video's of himself doing it.

There's a strat called Sound Whoring,  people with good headsets don't even have to use the radar and know where people are located by just listening to the footsteps.  Ninja kinda helps with this and kinda doesn't at the same time :(   

ninja pro is extremely useful for certain gamemodes. i play alot of h/c search and in modes where there is no map the extra hearing helps. it also helps if u r using headphones or going against somebody using them (and im certain a good chunk of people in h/c modes seem to be). also ninja pro helps you hear bombs being planted and diffused, a huge bonus for many game types

Tactical Mask Pro beats all other perks. 
 
At least if you Nuketown only :)

Ninja + Turtle Beach= Good

My own footsteps bother me even with Ninja (without pro).

you might sneak up on some people but in most games the action is just to fast, its more of whos quicker on the trigger.
 
 
 

Get your Portable ID!

Nope, I use Ninja 100% of the time and its saved me from being noticed countless times. Never bothered going pro tho, I can hear the enemy fine with my Earforce Headset. A better unlock to pro mode would have been appreciated.

I have to say Ninja is pretty useless in Black Ops. If you're not playing S&D then you've pretty much wasted a 3rd perk. It could come in handy in S&D but I find the sound ques in Black Ops to be as good as they where in CoD 4 or MW2.

" I play with headphones, so I love using the ninja perk and running around in complete silence.  However, it occurs to me that a lot of people don't play with headphones and they play with music in the background, which makes me running in silence a non-issue.  So am I just wasting this perk?  "

I like using hacker. I don't like getting killed by claymore.