Leave the CD In

For about a month, one CD stayed in my car.

I did not plan it as an experiment, but it became one.

Whenever someone got in, I would sometimes ask whether they wanted the radio instead.

The answer often came immediately.

“No, leave this. I love this song.”

It happened often enough that I stopped asking.

The CD had become part of the car.

That is something physical music did very well. A disc could remain in the player for weeks until the first track became connected to starting the engine and the later tracks became attached to particular roads.

There was no algorithm deciding what came next. There was no endless library.

There was the CD.

And apparently almost everyone who entered the car was happy with it.

That included people I knew well and people I barely knew. The music did some of the social work for us. Recognition came first, conversation second.

A song can make a small space easier.

A car is already an awkward kind of room. Two people sit close together, facing the same direction, sharing silence, temperature, traffic, and whatever is playing through the speakers.

The right music removes one decision.

After enough positive reactions, I reached a practical conclusion.

Do not take the CD out.

It was not a theory about music. It was not research.

It was simply something that kept working.

Sometimes that is enough reason to leave a thing alone.