How do you tell what music you like?

For some this is obvious, you can feel it instantly and tell whether you enjoy it or not. For me it is not so easy. I like a wide range of music and would listen to much of it alone. However I tend to judge music by what sounds best while driving with my system up and windows down and unfortunately what I would not be embarrassed for if other drivers heard. To me music is purely sound and beats. I rarely focus on the actual lyrics as I have always had a hard time discerning them. The words are so often mumbled, made up or drowned out by the music.

I have not listened to music for the past 6 month other then the occasional Sirius XM on my short car rides, listening to top 40 songs until my ears bleed and I get nausea. It's not that I don't enjoy many of them it's just the repetitive stuffing of them down my throat that turns me off. I have left my ipod home for runs, i have stopped going to pandora and grooveshark and I do not play music while at home. I'm just confused with music and find a comfort in quietness.

I guess what I'm looking for is any advice on how to tell what music you truly like and in what situations to listen to it. I don't think I have ever seen someone blast classical music while driving down the road before. As much as I like classical and more diverse pleasant sounding electronic songs I get very bored without the occasional vocals. It's so hard to figure out what I like and how and when to listen to it. Is there any unspoken rules, music etiquette or music no no's.

I also wonder if I need to sort my music or if it's OK to listen to classical one second and rap the next. Any rules or thoughts about this?

Another thing is how do people judge the quality of music? Who they are as people or how well they command music? An example is I may love an actor in movies but care less about his personal life and watch any movie with him. Where as my sister may dislike who the actor is in real life and never watch his movies because of it. Does that also hold true in music? Does someone who is a flake of a person but has a command over music warrant any stigmas because of it?

Thank you for reading.