Asleep at the switch during the dawn of Napster and viciously retaliatory in the years that followed, the music industry hasn't done itself any favours over the last decade. In an effort to maintain a business model that is no longer relevant, the "Big Four" music behemoths have attempted a slew of marketing tactics, from added-value multimedia discs, to movie tie-ins, to bundling and boxing product into "premium" offerings. This week, Toronto-based Sony BMG......

Gift cards may make convenient presents for Christmas, but they're a lump of coal for the environment. According to the Consumers' Association of Canada, Canadians will spend $3 billion on gift cards this year, which means a lot of rectangular pieces of plastic will end up in the garbage. Gift cards can be reloaded to extend use, but a person who receives multiple gift cards for a retailer usually keeps only one to reload......