RE: music played in businesses -
Some advertising firms have spent a lot of $$ researching what sorts of music have different effects on the listener. For example, what makes you more likely to stay in a store & spend money, or (for fast-food restaurants) what encourages you to pay, eat, & run. Not saying you'll get such carefully tailored sounds if the local diner just turns on the radio, but you can be confident that Big Brother and the Mind Control Squad are hard at work at the local mall.

I suspect many/most Mudcatters have musical tastes sufficiently different from the "mainstream" mobs that perhaps we are not quite so susceptible to such manipulation?

(then again, I'm absolutely CRAVING a Big Mac right now. But I'm sure that has nothing to do with the muzak in the office....) *grin*