  We present Quantum Cloning Machines (QCM) that transform N identical qubits
into $M>N$ identical copies and we prove that the fidelity (quality) of these
copies is optimal. The connection between cloning and measurement is discussed
in detail. When the number of clones M tends towards infinity, the fidelity of
each clone tends towards the optimal fidelity that can be obtained by a
measurement on the input qubits. More generally, the QCM are universal devices
to translate quantum information into classical information.
