Overview
When someone buys an album, the confirmation email shows the album cover, then a download link for the whole album as a zip, and the tracks one by one in the order of the album.
Two zips are offered when possible. MP3: the MP3 version of each track, tagged with the title, artist, album, track number, year, genre and cover entered in VEFmusic. Lossless: your WAV or FLAC master files, as uploaded. Each zip contains a folder with the numbered tracks and the cover file. The lossless zip is only offered when every track has a WAV or FLAC master.
How zips are built
The zips are built automatically in the background, a few minutes after any change to an album or to one of its tracks. VEFmusic > Products > Downloads shows what each album will deliver, why a zip is not available, and lets you rebuild it. If a buyer arrives before a zip is ready, the email says so and the buyer can request it again from “My account” a few minutes later. Each link works for one week and for a limited number of downloads (VEFmusic > Sales > Invoicing); an interrupted download can be resumed without using another download.
The lyrics entered on each track can also be added to the MP3 files: tick “Include the lyrics in the MP3 files” in VEFmusic > Products > Downloads (off by default). Many music players then show them while the track plays. The zips are rebuilt when a lyric changes.
The MP3 files that VEFmusic generates from your master files are encoded at 320 kbps. Tracks converted with an earlier version keep their quality until you upload their master file again. Each album is stored twice on the server (the files, then the zips).