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By wire services
Published January 1, 2006

"THE BIGGER THE COMPANY, the smaller the product" seems to be the dominant business plan these days, at least as Barron's sees it. "There are signs that Microsoft is gearing up to produce its own digital media player," the publication says of the world's largest software company. Its new product probably won't pose much of a threat to Apple's iPod, says Barron's, "but it will give Microsoft access to the $8-billion - and growing - digital media and music business."

SINCE THE DAYS of silent movies, the production, marketing and distribution of films has been tightly controlled by a select few. "But," Fast Company says, "the digital age has changed all that." An industry that once raked in easy profits now fights for its life "as fragmentation, piracy and new delivery systems chip away at its antiquated business model." But the magazine says the up-and-comers are learning from the mistakes of the record industry that fought the digital revolution and lost. "Consumers are in control, and if you don't give them what they want, when they want it, they'll take it anyway," Fast Company says.

THE ART MARKET is red-hot these days. With art becoming a trendy investment alternative, veteran collectors fear the market is getting overpriced. Experts say if you're looking to invest, do it with caution. BusinessWeek suggests doing your own due diligence so you'll be less vulnerable to fad buying. Consider collecting photos rather than paintings and sculptures, it says. Prints by photographers such as Edward Weston are setting record prices, and experts think works by other seminal photographers will appreciate, too. Joshua Holdeman of Christie's auction house considers the work of the late Garry Winogrand, which starts at about $3,000, underpriced. Others cite Tennessee color photography pioneer William Eggleston ($8,000 and up), Hungary's Andre Kertesz ($3,000 and up) and Britain's Martin Parr ($1,500 and up).

WHEN BABIES FLY, so do the fees, according to a new study by Consumer Reports. Most airlines tack on a fee, perhaps as much as 15 percent of the ticket price, for international flights if an infant will be sitting on a parent's lap. Consumer Reports recommends that parents consider buying their infant his or her own seat. Many airlines offer discounted "child in seat" fares for infants; United, for example, discounts the fare by 50 percent. It also means your infant can check two bags, like a baby stroller that could otherwise generate an extra-baggage fee, if the parent already has two other bags to check.

Compiled from Times wires and Web sites.

[Last modified December 30, 2005, 17:37:02]