juliasmagics
juliasmagics
juliasmagics
OckhamsRaise
roguenation
Midilight
MaddieRosene
junebuga
MarkHewer
VariationsGr
- 1. Registration
- How do I register?
- Why do I have to register?
- Why do you need my email address?
- I forgot my password, what do I do?
- Do I need to be logged in to purchase music?
- I registered, but my name does not show up in the artist A-Z section, how come?
- How can I edit my data?
- What can I do with my account?
- How do I upload my tracks?
- How do I upload an album?
- Do I have to offer my tracks for free?
- How do I start a blog?
- What is Bumped?
- How do I download a song / album from Directstereo.com?
- How long does a download take?
- Do I need special software to download or to play music for directstereo.com?
- What can I do if I downloaded the wrong track? Can I get my money back? What is your refund policy?
- If the download gets interrupted while downloading, will my track still be available to me?
- Where can I find my downloaded tracks?
- Are the tracks I bought subject to specific music players or specific music software?
- Do you have any free music at directstereo.com?
- What does a track or an album cost at directstereo.com?
- I bought a track last month and the same track is more expensive now. Why is this?
- I am selling music via directstereo.com, now how do I get paid?
- So how much money do I make from selling my tracks?
- How can I see how many people bought my music?
- I requested a payout, but I still didn’t receive any money, why is this?
- How can I add credit to purchase music?
- Why do I have to enter my credit card details every time I add credit with my credit card?
- “Worldpay” appears at my credit card overview. Why is this?
- What type of payment does directstereo.com accept?
- I was charged a surcharge. What is that for?
- My payment was declined, what do I do?
- How can I see how much credit I have in my account?
- Does my credit ever expire?
- Is my computer compatible with directstereo.com?
- Is my browser compatible with directstereo.com?
- Does directstereo.com support any download managers?
- What is DRM?
- What is bitrate?
- What is a zip file?
- The samples do not play well, what is going on?
- Why do you offer only mp3 files?
- My download didn´t finish, what do I do?
- How do I play the music I download?
- File sharing?
- Why should I pay for music downloads?
- Do I need to copyright my work as an artist?
- What do I do when I find a copyright violation of my work at www.directstereo.com?
- How can I find out about new products?
- How can I find the music I am looking for?
- I am the owner of a record label, can I add music to the site?
- I would like to license music from directstereo.com, what do I do?
- How can I cancel the newsletter?
- I have a question that is not answered in this FAQ or in the “how to use this site” section, how do I contact directstereo.com?
- Can I get artwork with the tracks?
- My tracks are not in the cart, what happened?
- I have some suggestions for directstereo.com, how can I let you know?
- What is Directstereo.com´s privacy policy?
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1. How do I register?
There is a 'Register' link in the ‘User panel’ in the left side of the home page of the Directstereo.com website. By clicking on this link you will be taken to the page where you can enter your data which is needed to register yourself to the site. Enter your data in the required fields and click 'Register Account'. An account activation email is now sent to the email address you used to register yourself with. Just click the link in the email and you are registered. If you did not receive the activation mail, please check your spam folder and add the DirectStereo.com domain to your safe list. You can also have us resend you the activation mail by following this link: http://directstereo.com/resend/
You are now registered and ready to buy music with ease. You have to be logged in each time you want to buy or download music. You can do this by entering ‘username’ and ‘password’ in the spaces given for login in the ‘User Panel’. When logged in, you can buy or download music fast and easy.
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2. Why do I have to register?
You need to register if you want to buy or upload music, start a personal blog, if you would like to receive our newsletter or exciting 3rd party offers.
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3. Why do you need my email address?
We need your email address for 2 reasons: 1 - To send you confirmation for bought items, when there are any changes to the website or when the conditions are changed, for providing your account status and to send you the newsletter or 3rd party offers if you have subscribed. If you are unsure about providing us with your email address, please take a look at our privacy policy here: http://www.directstereo.com/privacystatement 2 - To Pay you! All our payments are made via Paypal. Please make sure that you use a valid email address when you sign up or you will not be able to receive your earnings! If you do not have a paypal account yet, you can create one here: https://www.paypal.com/worldwide
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4. I forgot my password, what do I do?
When you enter a non valid password, the site will give you an error and the option to provide an email address. After entering your email address, click “send data” and you will be sent an email with instructions on how to recover your login data.
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5. Do I need to be logged in to purchase music?
You have to be logged in every time you visit the DirectStereo.com website and want to buy or download music. You do so by entering your user name and password in the user panel located on the left side of the home page. If you then click on the 'LOG IN' button you will be logged in and can buy or download music. You can preview tracks without logging in.
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6. I registered, but my name does not show up in the artist A-Z section, how come?
You will only show up in this list if you have actually uploaded more than one track.
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7. How can I edit my data?
Just go to the user panel on the left side of the home page, log in and click account settings. Here you can edit all your personal information. Click edit account to save.
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8. What can I do with my account?
Once registered, you can: -Download music for free! -Upload your tracks or music albums and sell them. (please note that the tracks you upload have to be owned by you.) -Purchase tracks or music albums -Create your own personal blog -Get your own personal page with your own unique url like: www.directstereo.com/yourname -Rate purchased tracks or music albums -Comment on purchased tracks or music albums -place a widget of our music player with your tracks on any forum or blog that accepts html code -Discover great new artists and music easily
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9. How do I upload my tracks?
If you want to upload a single track, go to My Tracks in the user panel and click “Submit new track”. Then click “Select MP3 File” and search for the MP3 file you want to upload. Please note that the maximum file size is 10mb per file. The upload will start once you click “Open”. When the upload is ready you can select artwork or you can choose not to upload artwork. After this you can enter the name of the track, the genre and some additional information like the price people have to pay after 2 weeks to download the track. If you do not enter a price, the site will automatically choose the first (cheapest) price in the list. You can change the price of a track once every month.
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10. How do I upload an album?
To upload a complete album at once, you will have to create a ZIP archive which contains all the tracks and artwork of your album. Please note that an album needs to contain at least 4 tracks end the maximum file size for an album is 100 mb. If the file size exceeds 100mb, we suggest a free program named Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) with which you can edit your tracks. Now go to “My Albums” in your user panel and click “add complete album”. Search your ZIP file and the upload will start. Once the file is uploaded, you can give every track a name, select a genre for your album and you can choose a price for your album. (an album will never be free, but at least 2 tracks have to be for at least 2 weeks.) Please do not forget to include your artwork in the ZIP file. You can also select which tracks are offered for free for the first 2 weeks after the upload and which not. You can do this by going to “My Albums” and select “Edit” for the desired album. Just tick the box in front of the track.
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11. Do I have to offer my tracks for free?
Yes and no, we believe that offering tracks for free (even for a small period of time) attracts more people and thus generate more income for you in the end. It works like this; If you upload only one or two tracks, then you have to offer these for free for a period of 2 weeks. If you upload more tracks within a short time period, you have to choose 2 tracks that will be offered for free for a 2 week period. (If you plan to upload more than 2 tracks, we recommend that you create an album.) You can already choose a price for the tracks for after this 2 week period. However, we advise that you wait a bit to see if your tracks have been popular. If so, you can base your price on this. You can choose 4 prices for your tracks. You can find these prices in the “tracks” section of your user panel (Click Tracks – Then look for your specific track and select “Tools”). After these 2 weeks, the site automatically chooses the first (cheapest) price in the list if you haven´t chosen a price yourself already . You can change the price for the tracks yourself once a month. If you upload an album, you have to select at least 2 tracks that will be offered for free for a 2 week period. You can do this by going to “My Albums” and select “Edit” for the desired album. Just tick the box in front of the track.
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12. How do I start a blog?
As an artist, you can create and keep a blog, here you can post a biography, what you are working on or what other artist you have spotted! You can create a blog by going to “My Blogs” and click “add a blog”. Please note that it is not allowed to display an advertisement on your personal page, placing third party
commercial content on your personal page, posting blogs or bulletins
with a commercial purpose on your personal page.
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13. What is Bumped?
If your track has been on the website for a while, it will go down in the lists, by bumping your track you can get it back up in the lists! You can bump your track after 4 weeks.
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14. How do I download a song / album from Directstereo.com?
When you buy a track, It will be added to your cart and after you pay for your track(s) they will be available for download to you for 48 hours. Your purchase is available to you at the “My Downloads” section in the user panel. All the MP3 tracks are put in a ZIP file so you can easily download them. After you download the tracks, you can extract them and play them with your favorite player! All the music you download from directstereo.com is DRM FREE and fully compatible with all the common software and mp3 players / mp3 capable devices.
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15. How long does a download take?
The time required to download music to your computer depends on the size of the music file and on your Internet connection. Approximate downloading times for a music files of 4 minutes and 3.5 mB are: 28.8k modem = 20-25 min, 56.6k modem = 10-15 min ISDN = 5-10 min, Cable / ADSL = approx. 1 min. When downloading an album, just multiply these values by the amount of tracks in the album.
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16. Do I need special software to download or to play music for directstereo.com?
No, All the music you download from directstereo.com is DRM FREE and fully compatible with all the common software and mp3 players / mp3 capable devices. You are free to burn your mp3's to cd and play them using any media player or your favourite software. Please be aware that your purchased music is for YOU only. Sharing music files is illegal.
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17. What can I do if I downloaded the wrong track? Can I get my money back? What is your refund policy?
Sorry - no. Directstereo.com does not offer refunds. Please make sure that you've got the right track in your basket when you pay for your final purchase. In some cases however, refunds may be offered at the discretion of the management.
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18. If the download gets interrupted while downloading, will my track still be available to me?
Yes, your tracks will be available for 48 hours at the “my downloads” section of your user panel.
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19. Where can I find my downloaded tracks?
Check in your browser settings which folder your browser uses for saving downloads. After you select 'save', just remember your target folder. If you are using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox you can save your files at any location on your computer you like, just save to your preferred folder using your browsers download manager.
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20. Are the tracks I bought subject to specific music players or specific music software?
No, All the music you download from directstereo.com is DRM FREE and fully compatible with all the common software and mp3 players / mp3 capable devices. You are free to burn your mp3's to cd and play them using any media player or your favorite software. Please be aware that your purchased music is for YOU only. Sharing music files is illegal.
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21. Do you have any free music at directstereo.com?
Yes, when individual tracks are added, they are offered for free for the first 2 weeks after they have been submitted. When an album is added, at least 2 tracks have to be chosen from that album. These tracks will then also be offered 2 weeks for free after being submitted.
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22. What does a track or an album cost at directstereo.com?
There is no joining or subscription fee associated with Directstereo.com, you just pay for what you want. A single track can have 4 different prices, depending on the price set by the owner of the track. We support the following currencies: EUR – USD – GBP Prices for single tracks in all currencies are: 0.25 – 0.50 – 0.75 – 0.99 – 1.25 An album can have 12 different prices: between 0.99 and 9.99 , depending on the price chosen by the owner of the album. Prices can be subject to currency fluctuations.
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23. I bought a track last month and the same track is more expensive now. Why is this?
Every artist has the option to change his prices once every month.
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24. I am selling music via directstereo.com, now how do I get paid?
Payout is every 1st of the month via paypal. You are subject to payout if you have requested payout and your credit is at least 25,- EUR - US dollars or GBP. We chose paypal for payouts simply because of its ease of use and the majority of our users already have an account. If you do not have an account yet, you can register for one here: https://www.paypal.com/worldwide !Payouts will be made to the email address provided in the “my account” section! Please note that you are responsible for any taxes that you may have to pay for your earnings.
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25. So how much money do I make from selling my tracks?
All artists keep 70% of the sales price. There are no subscription fees, sign up fees, monthly or hidden fees. Payments are made by PayPal.
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26. How can I see how many people bought my music?
You have a download counter in the “my Tracks” section of your user panel, then the financial data can be found at the “My Credits” section of your user panel.
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27. I requested a payout, but I still didn’t receive any money, why is this?
A payout can take up to a month. We payout at the first of every month, so if you requested a payout at the 2nd day of the month, you will have to wait until the 1st of next month for your payout. If you still did not receive anything after a month, check if the email address you provided corresponds with the email address you provided for paypal and check if you provided us with a valid email address since all payouts are made by paypal and we use the email address you provided in the “my account” section.
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28. How can I add credit to purchase music?
Go to the “My credits” section of your user panel and click “Buy new credits”. Fill in the amount that you wish to add and click next. In the following page you can choose if you wish to pay by paypal or by credit card. Then follow the on screen instructions.
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29. Why do I have to enter my credit card details every time I add credit with my credit card?
This is for security purpose only. We do not store your credit card details on our server.
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30. “Worldpay” appears at my credit card overview. Why is this?
Worldpay is serving our payments, so they charge your creditcard for us. Worldpay is an important part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, the 5th biggest banking group in the world, WorldPay payment solutions are trusted by thousands of businesses, big and small.
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31. What type of payment does directstereo.com accept?
We accept paypal and all major creditcards. We are still expanding our payment options
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32. I was charged a surcharge. What is that for?
Because of the high transaction fees from the credit card companies, we have to charge a surcharge of 0.25 EUR, 0.30 USD or 0.20 GBP for all amounts under 7,50 EUR, 10,-USD or 6,- GBP
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33. My payment was declined, what do I do?
If your payment was declined whilst checking out with Paypal then please contact Paypal. Please note that DirectStereo.com does not process or hold any account details for payment via Paypal. If your credit card was declined through our payment gateway, please contact your bank first as most problems tend to originate there.
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34. How can I see how much credit I have in my account?
Simply go to the “My credits” section of your user panel.
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35. Does my credit ever expire?
No, your credit never expires.
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36. Is my computer compatible with directstereo.com?
A broadband internet connection is more important than having a slow or fast computer. Next to an internet connection you need at least windows 98, 2000, ME, XP or Vista or Mac OS9 or OSX and Flash installed to hear track samples.
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37. Is my browser compatible with directstereo.com?
Please make sure that you use one of the following browsers: Windows IE 5.0 or higher, Netscape 7.2, Opera, Firefox, Safari 1.2 or higher, Google Chrome
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38. Does directstereo.com support any download managers?
Directstereo.com does not support any download managers. You need to temporarily disable them while using the site or they will cause problems.
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39. What is DRM?
Short for digital rights management, a system for protecting the copyrights of data circulated via the Internet or other digital media by enabling secure distribution and/or disabling illegal distribution of the data. Typically, a DRM system protects intellectual property by either encrypting the data so that it can only be accessed by authorized users or marking the content with a digital watermark or similar method so that the content can not be freely distributed. Digital rights management has been and is being used by content provider companies such as Sony, Apple Inc., Microsoft and the BBC. Directstereo.com does NOT use DRM. There are no DRM restrictions on our music - we believe in allowing you to move your music freely between your computer and any personal devices. This includes burning to CD for personal use.
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40. What is bitrate?
Bitrate is the amount of compression used to encode an MP3. The more compressed the file becomes, the lower the quality, hence a lower bitrate. As an example of what different bitrates will sound like here's a rough guide: • 16kbps - Telephone • 24kbps - Shortwave Radio • 32kbps - AM Radio • 64kbps - Voice • 96kbps - FM Radio • 128kbps - Tape Cassette • 160kbps - Near CD Quality • 192kbps - CD • 256kbps - Studio Remember, the less compression the larger the file. If you want to upload and start to sell music via Directstereo.com, we encourage a minimum of 192 Kbps encoded with the lame audio encoder. You can use the free program audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to encode your files.
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41. What is a zip file?
ZIP is a popular archive format widely using in Internet. Like other archives, ZIP files are data containers, they store one or several files in the compressed form. After you downloaded ZIP file, you need to unpack its contents in order to use it. Because of the size of the tracks on the site your downloads will be in the form of Zip files. This reduces the time it takes to download your purchases. Once the Zip file has finished downloading you can either open the folder to get to your music or right click on the Zip file choose to ‘Extract all’ which will move your items into a regular folder.
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42. The samples do not play well, what is going on?
Are you sure the volume on your computer is turned up and your speakers are plugged in? If you're still having problems try downloading the latest version of Flash, it's free from Adobe. If this did not solve your problem, try updating your soundcard´s drivers and software.
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43. Why do you offer only mp3 files?
In order to maintain standards on the site we have decided to only supply music in mp3 format. Mp3s have the advantage of being more flexible than other formats like WMA, being compatible for all players and not being restrained by DRM.
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44. My download didn´t finish, what do I do?
You can go back and retry by logging in and going to the “My Downloads” section of your user panel. Your purchased download will be available to you for 48 hours.
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45. How do I play the music I download?
You can play your music using the music player software installed on your computer. To play your track locate where you have saved it on your computer, double click the file and it will open in your default music player. You can then also copy the track onto CD or transfer it onto a portable music player.
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46. File sharing?
Music you have downloaded at Directstereo.com is strictly for personal use. This means you may play it on your own computer, burn it onto a CD for personal use and transfer it to your own portable MP3 player. Sharing music files bought via Directstereo.com with other people in any way is not permitted and is even a criminal offence. File sharing is illegal and will kill the music we love. Please ask your friends to buy their own, it isn't expensive.
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47. Why should I pay for music downloads?
All the music on DirectStereo.com is 100% legal, meaning that you are at no risk of getting into trouble for using our service. The music on our site is also virus free and the sound quality is as good as that you'd find on a CD. But ultimately paying to download music is only fair, this way everyone involved in making the music can be rewarded for all their hard work and the music industry can continue to produce great new stuff.
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48. Do I need to copyright my work as an artist?
We strongly recommend you copyright your hard work before you decide to offer it for sale to the general public. You can find more information about copyright here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyrights and here: http://www.copyright.gov/
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49. What do I do when I find a copyright violation of my work at www.directstereo.com?
If you believe that your work has been copied and posted on the Directstereo.com services in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide us at copyright@directstereo.com with the following information: • Explain in sufficient detail the copyrighted work or intellectual property that you claim has been infringed. If multiple copyrighted works are covered by your Notification, you may provide a representative list of such works • An accurate description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located. • Provide the electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or a person authorized to act on the owner's behalf. • A written statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. • Include a statement by you that the information contained in your Notice is accurate and that you attest under the penalty of perjury that you are the copyright owner or that you are authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf. • Your name, artist name, address, telephone number, and email address. Please note that you may be liable for damages, including court costs and attorneys fees, if you materially misrepresent that content on our website and/or service is copyright infringing. Filing a false form on this page constitutes perjury.
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50. How can I find out about new products?
We occasionally post news items on the front page, and you can sign up for our newsletter.
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51. How can I find the music I am looking for?
You can browse DirectStereo.com at many different ways. You can click on a genre at the left of the page, you can look at the top 50’s, you can check which tracks and albums are added last, you can search artist names from A-Z by clicking the “Artists A-Z” button or you can search for the track or artist in the search window if you already know the name. If you find a track that you like, you can listen to a preview of the track by clicking the small icon with the headphone, or you can add it to your own playlist by clicking the + icon. If you want to buy the track, click on the shopping basket or press the “buy” button on the music player , if the track is free, it will be available for download at once. Otherwise it will be added to your cart. You can pay for the contents of your cart with your credits.
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52. I am the owner of a record label, can I add music to the site?
If you are the owner – or speaking on behalf of a record label and you want to add music to directstereo.com, please contact us at sales@directstereo.com
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53. I would like to license music from directstereo.com, what do I do?
Please contact us at sales@directstereo.com
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54. How can I cancel the newsletter?
You can cancel the newsletter by logging in to your account, go to “account settings” and uncheck the box in front of the newsletter item.
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55. I have a question that is not answered in this FAQ or in the “how to use this site” section, how do I contact directstereo.com?
If you have any questions that are not answered either here or in the “how to use this site” section, you can contact us by email at info@directstereo.com We will try to answer your question as soon as possible.
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56. Can I get artwork with the tracks?
Unfortunately not. Artwork Is only available with albums.
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57. My tracks are not in the cart, what happened?
You either ended your previous session and were not logged in, or your browser is not set to accept 'cookies'. Please allow cookies for www.directstereo.com in your browser and any/all firewalls. For internet explorer browser go to Internet Explorer / Tools / Internet Options / Privacy / Sites / add www.directstereo.com / allow / apply / ok / restart "I.E.". If you are unsure about your firewall, check a search engine for your firewall's name for tips. Cookies simply 'remember' you and your settings next time speeding up the whole shopping experience.
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58. I have some suggestions for directstereo.com, how can I let you know?
We are very interested in both the good and the bad. Your opinion of our site and our services are very important to us. Please mail us with your opinion, complaints, suggestions, improvement ideas etcetera at feedback@directstereo.com
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59. What is Directstereo.com´s privacy policy?
We do not share your personal information with any 3rd party unless you checked the 3rd party offers box at your registration. You can find a copy of our privacy policy here: http://www.directstereo.com/privacystatement/
DISCLAIMER. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ARCHIVE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE INFORMATION IS ASSUMED BY THE USER, AND IN NO EVENT WILL DIRECTSTEREO.COM BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR DIRECT DAMAGES SUFFERED IN THE COURSE OF USING THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARCHIVE. USE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ARCHIVE ARE GOVERNED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSE AGREEMENTS AND MAY CONTAIN RESTRICTIONS ON USE.
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