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February 20---Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazil's president, has signed into law two bills intended to rein in that nation's widespread abuse of intellectual properties and bring Brazil into compliance with worldwide copyright law. One covers software piracy; the other, authorship rights.

Already flooded with contenders offering innumerable models in various shapes, sizes, and colors, the headphone market grows even larger today with the launch of SOL Republic, a “music lifestyle company” dedicated to “delivering innovation in sound, style, and durability.” Four SOL Republic models will initially be offered: Amps ($59.99) and Amps HD ($99.99) in-ear models, and Tracks ($99.99) and Tracks HD ($149.99) on-ear models.

The company, whose initials stand for “Soundtrack of Life,” is led by three music lovers with impressive backgrounds in business development and marketing:

Monster Cable has begun shipping a new series of "SuperDiscs"—specially remastered, limited edition CD/DVD combinations and special release DVDs—designed to excite audio consumers about high-quality multichannel music possibilities.

In anticipation of the upcoming 1.0 DVD-Audio specification (see previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10236/">previous article), Sonic">http://www.sonic.com/">Sonic Solutions and Warner">http://www.warnerbros.com/frame_moz3_day.html">Warner Music Group wasted no time in announcing their intent to collaborate in creating new multichannel high-density recordings to showcase the new format. Warner was one of the first major labels to deliver music via CD, and Warner's video division has never been shy in their support of Open-DVD for video. So it comes as no surprise that they're one of the first major music houses out of the gate for the audio version of DVD.

In a move that it says is designed to position it for "continued growth and leadership in the consumer electronics field," the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) unveiled last week its new incarnation: the Consumer">http://www.cemacity.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The announcement comes on the heels of a decision, made earlier this week by the Board of Governors of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), to allow separate incorporation for its sector associations.

When it comes to dynamic range, it's the little things that count. As Texas">http://www.ti.com">Texas Instruments explains, "Dynamic range is a parameter that expresses numerically how accurately sounds of small amplitude can be reproduced without distortion." In other words, the higher the dynamic range, the higher the quality of the sound, especially at low levels.

The object of the audio game, as Stereophile founder J. Gordon Holt put it, is "to re-create original acoustic events as accurately as possible." That goal has driven engineers to extraordinary lengths, improving every link in the recording and playback chain. Most such improvements are incremental, but their cumulative effect is the sometimes astounding level of sonic realism available today from even moderately priced equipment.