Sorting through a long-ignored pile of stuff in the living room, I discovered a box of CDs. Not just any CDs, but the ones that the kids used to listen to.

I find it harder and harder to refer to Ingrid and Adrian as “kids” but back then they truly were kids. Judging from the years printed on the covers, this would have been about 10 years ago. Not quite before Spotify, but at a time when Spotify hadn’t completely conquered the market and CDs were still a thing.

All the “Absolute Hits” and “Hits for Kidz” were in constant use in the car, together with a rotating selection of child-friendly hit CDs from the likes of Queen and ABBA. The “hits” CDs usually had a lot of songs from Melodifestivalen, the Swedish local equivalent to Eurovision Song Contest, but also such wonderful creations as Crazy Frog.

These days it’s all Spotify in the car, when we all listen to something together. Or individual headphones with whatever they all choose to listen to. But the “Hits for Kidz” are associated with so much nostalgia that we couldn’t just throw them out. Now they’re carefully packed away in the basement. Nobody will ever listen to them again, but maybe I’ll bring them out twenty years from now and show them off to my grandchildren. “Back when your mum/dad was your age, this is how you listened to music.”