I'm beginning to think my Mac mini has better musical taste than I do or at least knows me well enough not to let me subject myself to music I'd do better avoiding.

Earlier this week, a package arrived on my desk containing a garish, pink folder with a press release and CD for the band Bomshell, a pair of Nashville-based femm-country blonde bombshells doing their best Dixie Chicks imitation.

Despite serious reservations about how many peeps were slain to achieve that shade of pink, I interrupted my Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and popped it in.

As iTunes started ripping tracks, the disc sat there spinning insolently in the drive for about five minutes. During this time, my computer crawled to a stand still. Eventually, I was forced to hard boot to placate my computer's offended sensibilities.

This isn't the first time my desktop has taken it upon itself to veto adding an artist to my library.

Something similar happens almost without fail when I put in albums from the rap-fusion, new country, gospel and emo-rock genres.

There have even been times -- and I didn't know this was possible -- when the computer has forcibly ejected the disc hard enough to launch it almost off my desk. That's hardly an Olympic accomplishment, but impressive when you consider the sedate extraction that usually results when you press "eject."

I might be more upset if my computer's tastes weren't so in-line with my own. Maybe I'm better off not subjecting myself to Bomshel's slavish, Music Row-friendly songs like "Karma Is a Female Dog" or "19 and Crazy."

Then again, this might actually be a secret feature of iTunes' much-vaunted Genius playlist function whereby songs that don't match your listening tastes are expelled by force.

Whatever the reason, I'm kind of superstitious, so I'm inclined to think this is Mr. Zimmerman's way of warning me not to interrupt him again.

* In last week's column, I incorrectly listed Blaylock's Music as being closed, which came as quite a shock to co-owner Sue Blaylock, who said the store is struggling but still open. I apologize for any confusion this caused.

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Essential Listening Project purchases for Week 35 (Oct. 22): Jackson Browne's "Late for the Sky," The Who's "Quadrophenia" and "Tommy" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall."

E-mail Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com.