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Contents 1 Introduction to Bitmunk 1.1 Why Bitmunk? 1.2 Pricing 1.3 Security 1.4 Protection 2 Joining Bitmunk 2.1 Creating a Login Account 2.2 Verifying your Identity 2.3 Depositing Money 3 Using Bitmunk 3.1 Searching 3.2 Buying 3.2.1 Final Pricing 3.3 Getting Your Digital Content 3.3.1 Downloading The File 3.3.2 Decrypting The File

Introduction to Bitmunk

A Quick Introduction to Bitmunk from the perspective of a content fan.

Bitmunk is a place for people from all over the world to buy and sell music, television, and movies. This network was made for artists and media fans. This is the first legal, copyright-aware, peer-to-peer distribution system in the world - and it puts the people that should be in control (that's you) at the center. Bitmunk doesn't force you to use any Digital Rights Management technology. We support you in re-distributing your files on Bitmunk... support your favorite artists, and get paid doing it. We realize that sounds crazy, but bear with us while we explain how this works. We promise no gimmicks and no catches.

Why Bitmunk?

There are tons of online music stores out there, what makes Bitmunk so different?

We're not an online music store - we are a digital file marketplace. That's not a cop-out, there is a very significant difference between the two. An online music store sells locked-down digital music files, it is a corporation to consumer experience. A digital file marketplace is a fan to fan experience - nobody is shoving some corporate agenda down your throat when you buy stuff off of Bitmunk. The vast majority of the money a buyer pays goes to the artist, but don't take our word for it - every purchase you make on the network displays a receipt of sale, which outlines who is getting your money and for what reason. If you ask somebody for money, you should have no problem letting them know why you're charging them.

Pricing

How much should I expect to pay for songs and albums on Bitmunk?

The prices on Bitmunk are cheaper than other online music services and more of your money will be going to the artist. It is difficult to give an exact figure because the artist and sellers are in charge of pricing songs, not Bitmunk. New artists typically price their songs much cheaper than well-known artists and labels - because they want to be heard. Some artists don't charge any money at all. Some sellers charge more money because they have a very fast connection and can get the download to you faster than others. Some sellers want to support the artist, so they might not charge a download fee at all. Some sellers include a charity organization instead of a fee - thus, if you buy from a certain seller, some of your money goes to the ASPCA or a similar organization. The one thing that you are guaranteed is a large selection of choice on who you download from and to whom you give your money.

Security

Fine, fine - but whats to keep somebody from ripping me off during a sale?

Bitmunk is not an anonymous network, it is a real network with real people behind each and every financial transaction and file sale. We back each of our sellers, if the seller doesn't give you the file that you want, we will. If the seller tries to rip you off, we will fine them - and if they continue mis-behaving, they will be banned from Bitmunk. We use more security than your banking institution - military-grade encryption and security measures are heavily used to make sure you're protected on Bitmunk.

Protection

So what is going to stop me from putting all the files up on another P2P network?

We digitally watermark each file you buy from Bitmunk with your receipt of sale. This lets you prove that you own that file - it also means that if somebody else were to get ahold of that file, and put it on a P2P network - it would be tracked back to you. So, only share your files with people that you trust - if you start distributing your files for free on another network, the artist that created that file might come after you. Be smart with the files you buy, you can re-distribute them on Bitmunk and make money doing it - so why would you go to another P2P network that doesn't pay you for re-distributing files?

Joining Bitmunk

Before you can use Bitmunk, you must first create a user account and validate your real-world identity. Everyone on Bitmunk must do this - it is called a trust metric - and it makes it possible for you to trust other people and vice-versa when buying on Bitmunk. The rest of this article is wordy, but the process takes about 5 minutes to complete.

To register on Bitmunk, you must first create a user account.

Creating a Login Account

When creating a user account, you will be asked for a username and e-mail address. An e-mail will be sent to you with a verification number. You can then use that verification number to verify your e-mail address with Bitmunk and set your password.

Verifying your Identity

Everybody on Bitmunk must verify their identity before they are allowed to buy and sell on the network. The easiest way to verify your identity is by using your credit card or debit card - we will use the name and address listed on your credit card and associate it with your Bitmunk account. Your credit card will not be charged, we just check to make sure you are who you say you are with your bank or credit card company.

Depositing Money

Once you have registered and validated your identity on Bitmunk, you can use any credit or check card to charge your Bitmunk financial account.

Using Bitmunk

Buying anything on Bitmunk is a quick and easy process. You search for what you want on the network, find the right price and click Buy. Your Bitmunk client will appear and display the price for downloading the file or files. It will also show you the details of who is getting paid and for what reason - if you're interested in knowing. Once you accept the price, the file will download to your computer and you can enjoy it on the digital media player of your choice. That is the short of it, for those of you that are curious, here is how it works:

Searching

Search for the Song you want, find out who is selling it

The first step of the buying process is to find what you want to buy. You can do this via the search page. The search page will list songs and albums that best match your search words. You can then list the sellers, or click on the name of the song or album to get more detailed information about the file you want to purchase.

Buying

Sending the Seller an Intent to Purchase

This step is performed by the Bitmunk Download Client - every transaction in Bitmunk is based on a contract between yourself and the seller of what you want to buy. The contract is passed back and forth until both you and the seller are comfortable with the terms of sale. Usually, you send the seller a message stating that you want to buy something of theirs, they tell you the price and then you agree to or cancel the transaction. In the future, there will be a stage at which you can haggle with the seller, but for now, we keep it simple. If you don't like the seller's price, you can go to another seller.

Final Pricing

Once the seller receives your intent to purchase, a contract is generated and sent back to your Bitmunk Download Client which then displays the terms of the contract to you including the final price. If you agree to the price, the download begins.

Getting Your Digital Content

Downloading the File and Paying the Artist and Seller

The seller sends one or more temporarily locked files to you. The key to unlock the files is given to Bitmunk and will be given to you once you have downloaded all of the files. Once the Download Client downloads all of the files, it sends a message to Bitmunk to authorize payment to the people listed in the contract (for example, the artist and seller). Once payment has been authorized, the key to unlock the files is given to you. Then the Download Client unlocks the files and they are ready to be used.

Downloading The File

Downloading the file from the seller is a fairly straightforward process. The Bitmunk Download Software will retrieve the encrypted digital content for you.

Decrypting The File

When you authorize payment to the people listed in the contract, Bitmunk takes care of distributing all payments, taxes, financial processing, external account transfer and the rest of the money handling. It is a very complicated process, but we protect you from the complexity and give you only the stuff that you're interested in - how much you're paying, how much the artist is getting and the thing you wanted to buy.