[go] What does the download membership get you?
[go] How much does membership cost?
[go] Do I also get streaming?
[go] What download formats do I get?
[go] Are there any download limits?
[go] Can I really download everything?
[go] Are there members-only features?
[go] How do I download music?
[go] Can I burn CDs?
[go] Do you use copy protection? DRM?
[go] What rights do I have to the music?
[go] How do I cancel my download membership?
[go] Does it work on Linux? Mac? Windows?
[go] Does it work with Firefox? IE? Others?
[go] Can I use my own music player? (winamp? iTunes?)
[go] How are your musicians paid for my download membership?
[go] Can I share the music I download?
[go] Are there any desktop programs for using Magnatune download membership?
[go] What is the lifetime membership?
[go] Can I share my membership with others?
[go] Can I keep the mp3s I download if I cancel my membership?
[go] Do you donate money to open source programs?
[go] Why did you stop selling individual albums?
[go] Whatever happened to XXX artist? I know I heard them on your site before.
[go] How do I get the music I downloaded into my iTunes library?
[go] How do I add the album cover art to my iTunes library? When I imported the music, there was no artwork.
[go] How do I stop my membership from renewing?
[go] Can I change my credit card on paypal?
[go] How do I cancel my membership if I paid with paypal?
[go] Can I pay extra to receive a physical copy of the CD?

Answers:

What does the download membership get you?

You get to listen to everything on the Magnatune web site, without any commercials, and anything you want to download you can do so as if you had paid for it.

You get all the download formats that you normally would if you bought the album individually (ie, for $8). We offer MP3 and WAV files, and a variety of other formats as well. All without copy protection (DRM).

You can also download a PDF of the album artwork.

How much does membership cost?

A membership costs $15 per month.

Because we aren't evil, fully 50% of your membership goes straight to the musicians (not to lawyers or labels). You're doing a good deed by listening to our music!

Do I also get streaming?

Yes. The download membership also lets you listen to everything on the web site without needing to download it. Plus, the annoying commercials at the end of songs don't appear if you're a member.

What download formats do I get?

MP3- high quality VBR as well as 128k MP3 (lower quality)
WAV files - perfect quality
FLAC format - perfect quality
AAC files - high quality iTunes only
OGG Vorbis - high quality, open source format

Are there any download limits?

There are no download limits, you are free to download whatever albums you like at any time.

Can I really download everything?

Yes!

Are there members-only features?

Yes, having a membership enables the "favorites" feature.

When you are listening to an album using the Magnatune web site, you can mark an album as a favorite. You can then do a number of things with your favorite albums:

1) one-click add albums to your favorites as you listen to them. Download them later, when it's convenient.

2) listen to all your favorite albums (sequentially or as a shuffle mix) on the web with our flash player, or inside your own media player via the m3u/ogg/xspf links.

3) personal podcast: if you subscribe to your favorites using podcast-download software (such as iTunes), then the albums you mark as favorites are automatically downloaded in the background, and added to your iPod. Favorites are automatically downloaded and added to your Windows Media Player Library, when you use the free "Juice" podcast download program.

4) iTunes sync: instantly import their favorite Magnatune albums (as streams) into iTunes.

More information about these features is available on these blog pages: favorites and instant iTunes import.

How do I download music?

When you are on an album page on Magnatune, simply click the "download" button. The next page will give you zip files of all the various download formats for that album, as well as a PDF of the artwork.

Can I burn CDs?

Yes, you can burn CDs from the downloaded files

If you are doing that, we recommend you download the WAV format of the album, so that your CD is an exact duplicate of the master CD, and sounds perfect.

Do you use copy protection? DRM?

We never, ever use copy protection: that would be evil.

What rights do I have to the music?

You can play the music just as if you had purchased it individually from a store.

Put it on your computer, transfer it to your iPod, copy it to a USB key and take it to work, whatever you like.

We expect that you will want to share some of the great music you find with your friends, and that's great!

However, please don't give a friend more than one album from your download membership per month, as we would like to strike a balance between helping you tell your friends about Magnatune, and having your friends sign up with their own membership. Use your own judgement.

Please do not put your downloads on a peer-to-peer network such as Limewire.

How do I cancel my download membership?

Go to
http://download.magnatune.com/member/

and click the "cancel" link.

Your access to the site will cease as soon as you cancel, so its best to do this just before your next payment is due, not immediately after.

Does it work on Linux? Mac? Windows?

Yes, because we are simply a web site, and do not use any copy protection, everything works on all operating systems.

Does it work with Firefox? IE? Others?

Yes, all web browsers we have tested work.

The only exception is the iPhone Safari browser, which does not support Flash or audio playlists, and so does not work.

Can I use my own music player? (winamp? iTunes?)

When you are streaming music from our web site, you can click the ".m3u" link to play the music in your own music player.

The downloads from our web site are plain MP3s and should work in every music player.

How are your musicians paid for my download membership?

50% of your monthly membership is allocated to pay our musicians.

From that, half is paid to the musicians you stream while listening online, and the other half is paid to the musicians whose albums you download each month (divided equally based on which albums you downloaded). If you stream an album more than once, the musician is paid for each listen.

For example, in one month, if you download two albums, and stream-listen to 10 albums, this is how we would pay our musicians from your $15/month fee:

• $7.50 (50%) goes to Magnatune
• $3.75 is allocated for the streaming listening you did
• $3.75 is allocated for the downloads you did
• Since you downloaded two albums, each musician gets $1.875 that month for your downloads
• Since you streamed 10 albums, each musician you streamed gets $0.375 that month.

Can I share the music I download?

We expect that you will want to share some of the great music you find with your friends, and that's great!

However, please don't give a friend more than one album from your download membership per month, as we would like to strike a balance between helping you tell your friends about Magnatune, and having your friends sign up with their own membership. Use your own judgement.

Please do not put your downloads on a peer-to-peer network such as Limewire.

Are there any desktop programs for using Magnatune download membership?

The Linux programs Rhythmbox and Amarok support Magnatune very well and both support Magnatune memberships.

There are excellent iPhone and Android Phone applications that stream music over the mobile phone network, and both support membership for commercial-free listening.

What is the lifetime membership?

This is a one time fee which lets you use the download membership forever.

Can I share my membership with others?

Sorry, but only one person may use your download membership. We may cancel your membership if we find many people using it at the same time.

Can I keep the mp3s I download if I cancel my membership?

Yes, you may keep the MP3s you download forever, even if you cancel your membership.

Do you donate money to open source programs?

Yes, if you sign up for a Magnatune membership using either Rhythmbox or Amarok, 10% of your monthly membership fee is donated to that project.

Why did you stop selling individual albums?

This blog entry explains the change.

Whatever happened to XXX artist? I know I heard them on your site before.

We try to be as fair as possible to our artists: our motto of 'We are Not Evil' is as much for them as it is for the consumer. In some cases, this has meant that artists decided to leave Magnatune to pursue agreements with other record labels that don't allow the non-exclusive relationship we have. We don't always agree with their decision, but we of course respect and abide by it. In those cases, we remove the artist's music from our web site.

How do I get the music I downloaded into my iTunes library?

With Windows, right-click on the downloaded file and select 'Expand All' from the menu that appears.

For Macs, just double clicking the download file will do it. Make sure to take note where you put the song files.

*Launch iTunes, and select the 'File' option from the menu bar.

*Select 'Add to Library'. A new window will come up, and you will need to find the album you downloaded.

*Hit 'Edit' and then 'Select All' to highlight all of the songs in the album.

*Press the the 'Choose' button. This will add all of the tracks to your iTunes library, and you can then move them around as you would any other song from playlist to iPod etc.

How do I add the album cover art to my iTunes library? When I imported the music, there was no artwork.

In iTunes, not every album from Magnatune will automatically display artwork. This is because iTunes gets its artwork from a 3rd party service which doesn't always have the latest Magnatune releases. You can certainly add artwork into iTunes, however, fairly easily.

You can use JPEG, GIF, PNG or Photoshop images to add artwork to any Magnatune albums that may be missing it. A high quality JPEG of the album cover is available on the album download page.

1. In Browse view, select the album in your iTunes library.

Click the Browse button to switch to Browse view so that an Album column appears on the right side of the iTunes window. Click an album to select it.

2. Choose the File option from the top menu bar, Get Info or press Command-I (Mac) or Ctrl-I (PC).

3. Click 'Yes' to edit information for multiple items, in this case an entire album.

The Multiple Song Information dialog appears.

4. Enable the Artwork field by selecting its check box.

When you add a check mark to a field, iTunes assumes you want that field changed in all the selected songs. Make sure that no other check box is selected except Artwork.

5. Drag the graphics file to the Artwork panel.

Drag the graphics file directly over the blank Artwork field in the Multiple Song Information dialog.

6. Click OK to make the change.

7. Click Yes to change the artwork when the warning message appears about changing multiple files.

How do I stop my membership from renewing?

As it states when you purchase your Magnatune membership, all All subscriptions renew automatically unless they are canceled by the subscriber. To end your membership, click on the "cancel" link in the membership section after you login.

Can I change my credit card on paypal?

This tutorial explains how to do this.

How do I cancel my membership if I paid with paypal?

This tutorial explains how to do this.

Can I pay extra to receive a physical copy of the CD?

We are no longer offering physical CD's. CD burning technology has come to the point where it is easy to create your own copies of any albums you download from Magnatune, and we offer artwork that you can print at home to give your discs a more polished look, if you would like.