How does it all work?
What format are all the downloads?
I'm just about to buy an album. How do I add it to my iTunes music player software?
What is the lossless FLAC format?
What is the Sonic Unyon Download Manager?
Exactly how do I use FLAC to get the ultimate digital music experience?
What is the Double Delivery format?
What is the payment method?
Do I need to already have a Paypal account to buy from the Sonic Unyon Store?
I paid using a Paypal Echeque but I don't immediately see the my download links in My Account?
I don't have a credit card. Can I still buy from the Sonic Unyon Store?
What is a Canada-only release, and how come I can't buy this type of album when accessing the Sonic Unyon Store from a country other than Canada?
Can I buy a single song?
Why does the Sonic Unyon Store not use any DRM (digital rights management)?
Are the downloads instant? Can I listen to the music right away?
Do I get album artwork with the purchase of a full-length release?
How many times can I download the songs?
After I complete the download to my computer, and I try to unzip, a windows things pops us "compressed, zipped file is corrupted". What does this mean?
How does Winzip work for Sonic Unyon album files?
Is your site secure? How will you use my personal information?
How can I use the Sonic Unyon Download Manager to securely download my music?
Do I have to pay any taxes when buying music from the Sonic Unyon Store?
Can I buy regular old CDs from the Sonic Unyon Store?

How does it all work?

Here are the steps to buy music from us:

Digital Delivery
All album orders are delivered in digital form using our Sonic Unyon Download Manager. Once you set up and account with us you are able to see your purchases and download directly from your personal Download Manager.

Once you have purchases in your cart, and are ready to check out, this is how it works:

1. Account - You set up your account if you are a new user, or use your existing account.
2. Delivery Information - Even though you will be downloading directly from our site, verify your delivery information.
3. Payment Information - Enter your payment info. Option #1 - Credit Cards - We accept Visa and Mastercard cards processed through our own Canadian merchant account provider. Option #2 - Paypal - If you already have a PayPal account, enter your information and click continue. If not, fill in your details and this will automatically to sign up for a new PayPal account. PayPal allows you to use any major credit card, or transfer funds from a regular bank account. PayPal is the trusted and secure provider of merchant banking services used by Ebay and thousands of other large Internet businesses.
4. Download! - You can see a link to download your songs right away. (Alternately, you can choose to log-in at another time and download the songs from a similar link in your account.) Remember that you can download your album a virtually unlimited number of times(1000), and you link will expire after 14 days. Your digital files (album) comes in the form of a Winzip file (www.winzip.com) with all songs and artwork contained in a single container. Remember that this is a large file (approx. 40 MB for MP3 format, and 400 MB for Wav format), so start the download and then come back later.

Product Delivery

All regular album orders are delivered in digital form using our Sonic Unyon Download Manager. However, if you order a Double Delivery album, you will also receive a copy of a CD in the mail. Also, if you order a physical product like a t-shirt or DVD, you will also receive a package in the mail. The checkout process is similar to Digital Delivery:

Once you have purchases in your cart, and ready to check out, this is how it works:

1. Account - You set up your account if you are new user, or use your existing account.
2. Delivery Information - Verify your delivery information, as we want to make sure we are sending to the right address.
3. Payment Information - Enter your payment info. Option #1 - Credit Cards - We accept Visa and Mastercard cards processed through our own Canadian merchant account provider. Option #2 - Paypal - If you already have a PayPal account, enter your information and click continue. If not, fill in your details and this will automatically to sign up for a new PayPal account. PayPal allows you to use any major credit card, or transfer funds from a regular bank account. PayPal is the trusted and secure provider of merchant banking services used by Ebay and thousands of other large Internet businesses.

4a. Download - If you ordered a Double Delivery album, you can see a link to download your songs right away. (Alternately, you can choose to log-in at another time and download the songs from a similar link in your account.) Remember that you can download your album a virtually unlimited number of times(1000), and your link will expire after 14 days. Your digital files (album) comes in the form of a Winzip file (www.winzip.com) with all songs and artwork contained in a single container. Remember that this is a large file (approx. 40 MB for MP3 format, and 400 MB for Wav format), so start the download and then come back later.

4b. Confirmation - If you ordered a Double Delivery album, or a physical product, you will see message that says your product will be delivered in 5-7 days. We will send you a confirmation once the product has been shipped.

If you have any questions about your Digital/Product delivery, please contact us directly at digitalsupport(at)sonicunyon.com.

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What format are all the downloads?

All music downloads are in MP3 format (encoded at 192 kpbs, using Lame MP3 Encoder). We believe MP3 format still provides the most flexibility for music lovers. We want you to own the music you buy. Digital Rights Management encryption that is used by major labels (iTunes, Napster) severely limits your options and flexibility. Our MP3 music files do not require special players, or special permissions. . When you buy from Sonic Unyon, you own the music. Although we do encourage you not to upload the music to file sharing sites like Kazaa, we realize that you want to own the music you buy. File sharing is part of the modern music exerience, and we support the philosophy of sample...then buy. We allow you to buy, and own, the music you ve discovered.

We do also offer some albums in CD-production-quality FLAC format. These files are lossless and are available for an additional $2.00.

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I'm just about to buy an album. How do I add it to my iTunes music player software?

We want to make it easy for you to buy music and then play it in the music player of your choice. The iTunes player is very popular with the ever-growing legion of iPod users, so here are the steps to add your new Sonic Unyon album to iTunes, and also to your iPod.

1. Download - Once you complete the purchase process you will see see a link to download your album. When you click on the link your computer will ask where you'd like to save the zip file. For simplicity, you can save directly to your desktop.
2. Copy - Then copy the zip file to this directory My Documents/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.
3. Unzip - Use Winzip to unzip your folder in this new file location. There should now be a new folder in the iTunes Music directory.
4. Add Folder To Library - Now open iTunes on your computer, and choose the option Add Folder To Library from the File menu. From the pop-up, browse to the folder that you just created in the My Documents/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music directory. Click OK.
5. That is all you need to do! Your new album is now part of your iTunes library and you can copy the music to your iPod as you normally would.

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What is the lossless FLAC format?

For an extra $2.00, you can get most best-selling Sonic Unyon albums in FLAC format. FLAC (http://flac.sourceforge.net) stands for free lossless audio codec and refers to a digital audio standard that allows you to buy and enjoy your music at the highest possible quality. An album encoded in FLAC has a quality level ten times higher than regular MP3 and is equal to a standard CD. This means you can own your music in compression-free lossless quality--enjoy your music exactly as the artists intended in super-rich CD quality sound! It also allows you to burn your own music at home using source quality music files that are the equivalent of ten times higher quality than a regular MP3. Once you buy your music in FLAC format, you'll never need to buy it again because you can't get higher quality!

Creating a CD from FLAC files means that you are using completely uncompressed files, and the result is a flawless representation of the artist s original creation. These files are very large, and will take a long time to download using even high-speed connections. This format is recommended only for power users. Our regular high-quality MP3 format (encoded at 192 kpbs, using Lame MP3 Encoder) downloads are good for the majority of music lovers as they are quicker to download, and ready to play in your MP3 player at an efficient file size.

We recommend the regular $7.99 album format for most album buyers.

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Exactly how do I use FLAC to get the ultimate digital music experience?

Here is our recommendation of the best combination of digital music, software, and music players to enjoy the ultimate digital music experience:
1. Digital Music - The lossless FLAC format is simply the best. We recommend you buy all your music in FLAC, save it on your computer, and back it up regularly. As albums in FLAC format tend be fairly large, you may need a fair amount of computer disk space for a very large music collection. We recommend a hard drive with at least 80 GB of space if you plan to become a FLAC music collector. For backups, we recommend you use DVD burners to back up your music as data files. A standard DVD will hold 8-10 albums, and a dual-layer DVD will hold up to 20 albums. Mac users - buy and store in FLAC, convert to .wav using MacFLAC, import to iTunes, delete .wav files. Until Apple starts to support FLAC in iTunes, this is the best way to go. Another great MAC-enabled conversion tool is called xACT.

2. Software - To learn more about FLAC format, go here http://flac.sourceforge.net. The software we like for managing and converting your FLAC music is called dBpowerAMP and you can get it at http://www.dbpoweramp.com. It is good for managing your music, ripping CDs you already own, and converting your FLAC files into formats like MP3 for easier transfer to portable players. There is a small fee to use this software. Mac users - buy and store in FLAC, convert to .wav using MacFLAC, import to iTunes, delete .wav files. Until Apple starts to support FLAC in iTunes, this is the best way to go. Another great MAC-enabled conversion tool is called xACT.

3. Music Player - on you computer - The best player for listening to music on your computer is Winamp, with a free FLAC plug-in. You can get Winamp here http://www.winamp.com, and the Winamp FLAC plug-in here http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=131643. This combo will allow you to listen to FLAC files directly from your hard drive at super high quality! Mac users - buy and store in FLAC, convert to .wav using MacFLAC, import to iTunes, delete .wav files. Until Apple starts to support FLAC in iTunes, this is the best way to go. Another great MAC-enabled conversion tool is called xACT.

4. Music Player - portable - The best player for listening to FLAC files on the go in the Rio Karma which you can see here http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=261. This portable player supports the FLAC format and lets you listen to your music at super quality, with plenty of hard drive space (20 GB) to support quite a few albums worth of music. That said, many people will want to listen to their music on their iPods, and the easiest way to do that is to simply buy FLAC and then convert to MP3, using dBpowerAMP, for your iPod. It's pretty easy to do, and it strikes a healthy balance between quality of your music and the overwhelming popularity of the iPod as a digital music player.