If you have a favorite song, here's a test: explain why you like it. Music has a way of penetrating the soul in ways that can defy description. "It has a good beat and I can dance to it" is just one of many many reasons to like a song.
Nolan Gasser can explain it, up to a point. He plays, composes, and studies music. And he was a major figure in the Music Genome Project, which makes Pandora Radio work.
Gasser gets into the reasons why we like, dislike, and move to music, in his book Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste. He visits to help us understand what we think and feel about music.