Digital Downloads FAQ
Questions about Mike’s downloadable items? You’ve come to the right place. Below you’ll find answers to most common questions. Of course, if you have a question we didn’t answer, feel free to drop us a note.
Q. How do I download Mike’s digital items?
Step 1: Starting your download
On your order receipt, underneath each digital item you purchased you should see one or more download link(s) with a green arrow icon next to them. Click EACH link to start the transfer for that file and you’ll be prompted to either “save” or “open” the file. You’ll want to select “save” for each download and take note of the target location that your browser will save the file(s) to.
Step 2: Finishing the Download
Once the download(s) start, it’s important that they finish in their entirety before attempting to open them. Single track downloads will be saved to your computer as a single mp3 file. Full album downloads will be stored as a compressed .zip file for each disc which will need to be unzipped. Please be patient. Some of the items are quite large and can take a long time to finish downloading.
Step 3: Locating The Files
Once the transfer(s) are complete, you’ll need to find the files that you’ve just downloaded. In Windows, most browsers will save files to the “downloads” folder which you can find inside “my documents.” For Mac, the default destination is the desktop. If the files aren’t in those default locations, you can find the target location from that dialogue box that was discussed in the first step.
Step 4: Extracting files (full album only)
If you’ve bought and downloaded a full album, you’ll need to extract or “unzip” the files before you can play, burn, or import them into your media player. The unzipping process will vary depending on what software you use to handle .zip files and what operating system you’re using. In most cases, simply double-clicking on a file will begin extracting the contents. In some cases you’ll be prompted to select a destination for the unzipped folder. Otherwise, it’ll typically be unzipped to the same root folder as the original .zip file.
Step 5: Enjoy!
Once everything is saved and extracted, you can use your mp3s in any way you like. All digital downloads are DRM free and can be burned to disc, stored in your media library, or synced with your mobile mp3 player for you to take with you.
Q. What format are the files?
All the audio files available for download are DRM free variable bit-rate MP3 files encoded with the open source LAME encoder. We use variable bit-rate files to reduce the overall download size while maintaining the best possible quality file.
Q. How long will my download take?
This is a hard question to answer because it depends both on the size of the file you purchased and your internet connection speed. A typical 3-minute song requires about 5MB of storage space. A single 5MB file will take less then 1 minute to download on a typical high-speed (broadband) internet connection. That same file can take more than 30 minutes to download on a dial-up internet connection.