The copy cat will soon be out of the bag down under. Australia's musical copyright society has reluctantly agreed to the deployment of CD-copying kiosks throughout the nation in exchange for what an Australian news site calls "a modest royalty payment" of about 6% of the $5AUS copying fee—or 30¢ per disc.

We've learned to pretty much ignore consumer electronics company announcements for their latest CD and DVD players/burners. The usual "breakthrough" turns out to be yet another faster record/playback speed bump, or a longer list of compatible formats (Panasonic's latest recorder, announced last week, can handle—take a deep breath—DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, and CD-ROM discs).

"You're a toy junkie!" laughed Trish, my fiancée. "Your life is a search for bigger and better toys!"

"You're a toy junkie!" laughed Trish, my fiancée. "Your life is a search for bigger and better toys!"

"You're a toy junkie!" laughed Trish, my fiancée. "Your life is a search for bigger and better toys!"

"You're a toy junkie!" laughed Trish, my fiancée. "Your life is a search for bigger and better toys!"

"You're a toy junkie!" laughed Trish, my fiancée. "Your life is a search for bigger and better toys!"

"You're a toy junkie!" laughed Trish, my fiancée. "Your life is a search for bigger and better toys!"

"You're a toy junkie!" laughed Trish, my fiancée. "Your life is a search for bigger and better toys!"