Zunior.com - The Digital Music Manifesto

The future of music is digital. Owning a high quality personal music collection is easier than ever thanks to the depth and reach of the Internet. Searching, buying and playing great music is a snap with the usability and simplicity of the digital format. The digital music revolution balances the importance of portability, size and consistency that allows all of us to enjoy more music in more ways that ever before. Zunior.com sells high quality digital music from independent artists. Many people have asked me to explain Zunior, and the Digital Music Manifesto gives you the straight goods.

Great price!
All albums on Zunior.com are available for $8.88 as high quality 256 VBR MP3 format. It is also possible to pay an extra $2.00 and get your music in the highest quality lossless file format called FLAC (free lossless audio codec). However, if you're new to digital music, MP3 is the place to start as it combines the best elements of price, quality, and simplicity.

No restrictions!
All Zunior digital music is sold without any attached digital rights management (DRM) software. DRM-free music means that it can be played on any computer, any MP3 player, and any IPod! You can either purchase high quality MP3 songs, encoded at 192 kbps, or the highest quality FLAC format. No matter what, your Zunior music will play anywhere.

Zunior gives you album artwork!
Zunior is the only online store that gives you high quality MP3 music albums that come complete with album artwork! We provide original album artwork suitable for printing or pondering. Enjoy the full album experience.

Buy lossless! For those that demand the best!
For an extra $2.00, you can buy your favourite albums in FLAC format. Own your music in compression-free lossless quality. Enjoy your music exactly as the artists intended in super-rich CD quality sound. 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!

How does it work?
Once you set up your account with Zunior, you simply choose the albums you want to buy, pay by credit card, and download your music instantly. Enjoy your music right away!

Describe the Classic MP3 Experience
If you are new to digital music, we recommend the standard MP3 format as the best combination of price, quality and simplicity. Zunior.com MP3 files can be played on any type of computer, phone or portable player including the IPod. Zunior.com MP3s are fully compatible with Apple's market leading ITunes software, and they will play on a Mac or PC computer. You are also able to put your Zunior.com MP3 files as many different devices as you'd like because the music does not contain copyright protection. This makes it easy to use, and easy to understand. All Zunior.com albums are just $8.88, and they include artwork suitable for printing or pondering. The full album experience for those that want to own their music!

Describe the Ultimate Digital Music Experience
If you are a digital music veteran, or simply demand the best, we recommend Zunior.com music in FLAC format for an extra $2.00 per album. FLAC 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 allows you to enjoy the music exactly as the artist intended at full compression-free quality. FLAC albums will take up more space on your hard drive (at average size of about 250 MB versus 50 MB for a standard MP3 album) but it is worth it. Once you buy an album in FLAC format, you will never have to buy it again. FLAC albums are already at the highest possible quality, and they will never degrade like a CD. A Zunior.com FLAC album is forever.

How do you 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 - Zunior.com FLAC format is simply the best. We recommend you buy all your music in FLAC format, 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 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.

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.

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.

4. Music Player - portable - The best player for listening to FLAC files on the go in the Rio Karma which you can see herehttp://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.

The best independent music!
Zunior.com has albums from The Constantines, The Great Lake Swimmers, Jill Barber, Al Tuck, Elevator, The Violet Archers, As The Poets Affirm, The Inbreds, Julie Doiron, The Wooden Stars, Rheostatics and many, many more!

Go to www.zunior.com today!
Listen to samples of every song on every album, tune into our free high-quality Internet radio station, watch videos you've never seen before, and every Monday we feature a free song from one of our featured artists. New albums come to Zunior every single day!

That's the straight goods on Zunior.com and digital music. Enjoy your digital music and let us know if you have any feedback on the Digital Music Manifesto. Write me at dave@zunior.com, and tell me your thoughts.

Thanks for supporting independent music! - Dave Ullrich