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Some of our older customers might remember us launching a side project called Card Included, back in 2012. Some of our newer customers might be thinking, "What in the world is this?!". We can explain. Card Included is a self-serve download card service. It began as an easy way for labels and bands to include a download card with vinyl, but it's grown into something a lot bigger. Now, some people are using it as a way to promote their music in person. They hand them out at shows, or keep them in their pockets like business cards. Others are giving out private download URLs online. We even get the occasional author, looking to promote their book.

Card Included has been chugging along happily for the last couple of years, without a single update. And until recently, we never felt like it needed to be changed. It was basically perfect. Now it's not basically perfect, it is perfect. Here's what we've done:

Embeddable Redemption Widget

It's been a long time coming, but we finally did it. We now have an embeddable redemption widget for your own site. So if you know HTML, and can add the widget code to your website, there's an option in Step 2 of the designer, that says "I plan on using the embeddable widget". If you check that, we'll provide you with the necessary code, after your purchase. This also means that we'll be using your own URL on the cards we send you! Pretty awesome, we know. You'll also get an easy way to customize the widget's colors. You'll only need to do this once. For future orders, just check that box, and if you're using the same URL, you won't need the widget code again.

Digital Street Date

This new feature, works just like on Limited Run. You can specify a date you'd like us to prevent downloading until. It's an important feature for people sending records to stores, distros or out on tour with a band on your label.

Fan Location Downloads

Any time a fan uses a code to download a release, we automatically get their approximate location. With this new feature, we allow you to download a list of these locations. This list is a great way to help you plan future tours.

Artwork Support in Overlays

A while back we came up with a super slick way of letting people use any website as their download page, without needing to know or use HTML. Basically, you give us a URL, and we load that website, behind an overlay. In that overlay, it has your release's info, and a way to download it. Now, we stepped up our visual game, and let you add artwork to that overlay. To get the artwork just right, we added a spot to upload it in Step 1 of the designer.

Mobile Download Override

There's so much confusion about how mobile downloading works. The easiest way to explain it is, it doesn't. The experience is terrible on mobile. This is why we block downloads when a fan goes to the link on a mobile device. A lot of people don't realize how bad mobile is for downloading, especially on iOS. They contact us, wondering why their fans are prevented from accessing the files. They believe we're the reason it doesn't work, which isn't true. But, at the end of the day, we don't want to leave anyone hanging, so we decided to make this possible with a secret feature. If the user believes they can download and unzip the album, on their mobile device, all you need to do is tell them to add "?m" to the end of their download URL. This will unlock the download, and let them proceed. But we need to stress this, it's a bad idea.

If you have any questions, please get in touch. Thanks everyone.