Every six months or so, Paul and I sat down at my computer to pick a new set of music to play in my car. My 2000 Hyundai Accent had a tape player and I purchased an adapter so my CD player could be used. It was easier to burn a CD full of music than a cassette tape. On July 21, 2008, we only owned one car and Paul decided he wanted to pick the music.

Listening to the same fifteen to twenty songs gets tedious and boring. Finding a decent radio station is futile. We travel a lot and would prefer to listen to music we enjoy rather than what is force-fed through whatever the radio station thinks we should listen to. That is, if any radio stations other than Christian music or Country music ever came in.

Whenever I got bored, I would make my own CD. Paul never had a desire to choose, or help choose, but he sure did know how to whine when I picked something he didn’t like. This time, he wanted to pick to, “make sure there was good music in the car.”

I fired up my old 120 GB external hard drive where I kept all the music I had. It had 1.98 GB free, far too little space. Once should always leave about ten percent free so the computer can seek and process requests without slowing down or belching up errors.

The drive is divided into a series of folders, organized to make sense to me. He already has a list in his head of the songs he would like to hear. Paul tells me which songs he wants and I click on “Full Albums” first to listen to the highest quality versions as possible.

Although I have a folder named, “Singles” I try not to click in there unless I have to. Many of the songs are from pre-Napster days. Some are from Napster, BearShare, eMule, and a host of other places one could “obtain” music in the late 1990s. Some of that music is no longer available in any format, so I keep them handy just in case.

Paul begins naming songs. I click through to the typical music he grew up listening to – David Bowie, Simple Minds, Prefab Sprout. We avoid The Pet Shop Boys despite them being his favorite band. We have a cassette tape of nearly two dozen PSB songs that we can listen to whenever we want.

After a few selections, Paul leans in closer to the screen. As he picks a few songs, I continue to scroll, dreading what I know will happen.

I think to myself, “Not Billy Ocean. Please don’t pick Billy Ocean.” I say this to myself over and over, hoping that, somehow, I might have just magically gained the ability of mental telepathy and I can force Paul not pick any Billy Ocean music.

I try to keep the folder scrolled down past “B” so he can’t see. Fate has not smiled upon me this day.

“Ooo, Billy Ocean,” Paul said.

My heart stops. I want to swear. I want to scream and tell him what crap Billy Ocean is, but I refrain.

“Okay,” is all I mutter as I double click the “Billy Ocean” folder, revealing some of the worst music ever made. I already know what song he’s going to pick before he says it.

My hand starts to move the mouse towards the song and I hear, “When the Going Gets Tough. That’s a good one.”

No it isn’t, but I click it and drag it over to Nero, adding it to the list of music. We agree on a couple of more songs, including the theme song from Casino Royale, You Know My Name. I like the song so much that it’s still the first song on my old 128MB Creative Nomad Muvo MP3 player. I listen to it every morning when I ride my bike. We go through some Prefab Sprout and Paul picks a couple of their songs.

“What about that song by your Led Zeppelin guy?” Paul asks. “You know, the one Imus likes too.”

Yeah, I know what song you’re talking about, however, I don’t like it too much either.

“You mean Robert Plant?” I ask, knowing that the song is not by Robert Plant, but Mark Knopfler.

“Yeah, that one, and he sings it with that hippy chick.”

That hippy chick? He is so off bas, it’s not even funny. I want to play dumb, but I don’t want to take forever burning this CD, so I ask, “You mean Emmylou Harris?”

“Yep.”

“Yeah, well she doesn’t sing with Robert Plant. It’s Mark Knopfler. And the song is ‘This is Us.’”

“Whatever. Do we have it?”

“Of course we do,” I said.

I am at once slightly aggravated that he doesn’t always know the names of musicians and used to conversations like this.

I drag the mp3 over to Nero and prepare it for burning.

Some of the songs Paul picks aren’t completely terrible. His taste in music is…..different than mine. Okay, some of his musical choices are garbage, but I did promise he could make the CD.

I make sure all the settings are right and burn the CD at the lowest speed possible to make sure the transfer is goo.

We stick it in the car and my life of torture begins.

For those interested, the track listing is as follows:

01 When the Going Gets Tough – Billy Ocean
02 True Faith (Morning Sun) – New Order
03 Life on Mars – David Bowie
04 I Did It – Dave Matthews Band
05 The King of Rock and Roll – Prefab Sprout
06 Hey Manhattan! – Prefab Sprout
07 Salisbury Hill – Peter Gabriel
08 Mr. Blue Sky – ELO
09 True – Spandau Ballet
10 You Know My Name – Chris Cornell
11 This is Us – Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler
12 All The Things She Said – Simple Minds
13 Alive and Kicking – Simple Minds
14 If You Leave – OMD
15 Sowing the Seeds – Tears for Fears
16 Ordinary World – Duran Duran
17 Chains of Love – Erasure

Fortunately, Paul got his own car a month later and my car has been full of nothing but the best music in the world ever since.