FAQs

FAQs About Our Audio Courses

TheCapitol.Net, Inc. is a non-partisan firm that provides legislative, budget, communication and media training and publications by Washington experts for people who want to know how Washington works.^TM

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	Audio CD  and Print Materials
	Online download with MP3 audio and materials in PDF FAQ on Downloads >     Test Download Format >

Audio Course Evaluation Form: online | PDF

All Audio Courses are sold with a Limited License.

1. What is TheCapitol.Net?

2. Do you have a series of FAQs about Congress and Washington?

3. Does TCN take credit cards? PayPal?

4. Can you bill or invoice me?

5. What is an audio course? And how do I play an MP3 file?

6. What equipment do I need? And how do I unZip a download file?

7. How does it work?

8. How much do audio courses cost?

9. I want to have several people listen to the course. Do I have to pay for each person? Is there a license involved with your audio courses?

10. What happens if I can't download the course?

11. How do I buy an audio course?

12. Can I record, rebroadcast, retransmit, or make copies of an audio course?

13. Do you issue Certificates of Training for audio courses?

14. Do you have a mailing list so I can receive your mailings announcing upcoming courses?
    

1.  What is TheCapitol.Net?

TheCapitol.Net, Inc., is a non-partisan firm, a Virginia corporation, and came out of Congressional Quarterly in 1999. 

Our faculty and authors are all independent subject-matter experts with current experience, and include current and former Hill staff and other experts. 

We are registered with CCR.  
FEIN/TIN: 54-1917701     DUNS: 04-273-5071     CAGE: 1K5S4   SAN: 853-0513

Our editorial team has acquired, developed, designed, edited, marketed or published hundreds of books, including Congressional Deskbook; Congressional Directory; Congressional Operations Poster; Media Relations Handbook; Legislative Drafter's Deskbook; Real World Research Skills; Lobbying and Advocacy; and Common Sense Rules of Advocacy for Lawyers.

Our publications have been purchased by libraries, embassies, associations, nonprofits, colleges and universities, law and lobbying firms, federal agencies, law schools, state and local governments, Congressional offices and elected officials.

If you need a Form W-9,we have a pre-filled version here (1-page pdf)

See our About Us page for more details. 

2.  Do you have a series of FAQs about Congress and Washington?

Yes we do, just click this sentence and then scroll down the page.  We also have an FAQ about our custom, on-site training.

3.  Does TCN take credit cards? PayPal? Google Checkout?

Yes. We accept government procurement cards, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. We also accept PayPal and Google Checkout, free services. Please Note:  Only credit cards are accepted for download courses. A purchase order is not payment and will not be accepted.

               
 

4.  Can you bill or invoice me?

Yes, but you must first place your order online or via fax or mail. We do not take orders over the telephone. We ship items only after an invoice is paid in full.  Downloads must  be paid in full before we send you a download URL. A purchase order is not payment and will not be accepted as payment. See our payment policy for details.
 

5.  What is an audio course? And how do I play an MP3 file?

An audio course produced by TheCapitol.Net is a 1/2 hour to 2 hour course that includes an audio track and accompanying course materials. Capitol Learning Audio Courses offer you the convenience of learning at work, home, car, subway, walking or wherever you have an MP3 player or MP3 compatible device available.

The audio track of our audio courses is in MP3 format, a common format for sound recordings including music. On computers, popular software that can play MP3 files includes iTunes and Windows Media Player.  Most computers come with a program already installed to play MP3 files.

Our audio courses are available two ways: as a physical CD with printed materials and as a download.

	Audio CD  and Print Materials
	Online download with MP3 audio and materials in PDF FAQ on Downloads >     Test Download Format >

The accompanying course materials in our audio courses are in ink-on-paper format when you buy an audio CD, and are in Adobe PDF format when you buy an audio course download. Adobe Acrobat reader is free and can be downloaded here, although it is another program that comes installed on many computers. 
 

6.  What equipment do I need? And how do I unZIP a download file?

For our courses on audio CD, you need a computer with a CD/DVD drive or a CD player that can play the MP3 format. Most CD players sold since 2006/2007 can play MP3s.

For our downloaded courses, you will need a computer that can play audio files and a high speed Internet connection.  If you can hear the audio on YouTube videos, you have the equipment necessary to listen to our download courses on your computer.   Test Download Format >

After you pay for your download, you will receive a link (URL) to get your download file.  The file you download is a compressed file in ZIP format.

If you are unfamiliar with ZIP files, please read these instructions: Our downloaded Capitol Learning Audio Courses are in a compressed format known as ZIP to allow for quicker download times, and if you download a course you must decompress the file in order to use it. The compression software we use is the Internet standard, called ZIP, with the file extension of .ZIP.

A sample ZIP file name looks like this: samplefilename.ZIP Once you have the ZIP file downloaded, you need to decompress it. Your computer may already have a program to do this (called an unZIP program).

On a PC, open Windows Explorer and go to the file. Right click on the file and look for "Extract All..." If it is there, click that and it will decompress your file. If it does not show "Extract All," then you need an unZIP program. We recommend 7-Zip at http://www.7-zip.org or WinZip at http://www.winZIP.com Once you have installed 7-Zip or WinZip, you can either re-download or open your downloaded audio course using WinZip. Then you can extract (decompress) our audio course to your computer and use it. MAC users have an uncompress program built into OS, but many MAC users also use StuffIt Expander for Macintosh.

Each downloaded audio course includes an audio file and a course materials file. 

• The audio file, in MP3 format, will have a name like this: 1234.mp3 
• The course materials file, in Adobe PDF format, will have a name like this: 1234.pdf
  (If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, it is available for free. )

If you need assistance, please contact us and we will be happy to help you: 703-739-3790, ext. 112.
 

7.  How does it work?

After you purchase an audio CD, we ship the course to you via UPS or USPS.  After you pay for a download course, you will be sent an email containing a link (URL) to download your course.  The file you download is a compressed file in ZIP format.

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8.  How much do audio courses cost?

Each Capitol Learning Audio Course is $47 and includes course materials  To receive the audio CD version, you also pay shipping and handling (and VA sales tax if shipped to a VA shipping address). 
 

9.  I want to have several people listen to the audio course. Do I have to pay for each person? Is there a license involved with your audio courses?

When you buy one of our audio courses, you are issued a limited license for the course. By purchasing an audio course in any format, including CD or downloaded file, you are agreeing to this limited license:

Audio Course Limited License

All of our audio courses are copyright (c)(P) by TheCapitol.Net. All Rights Reserved.  No further recording, printing, broadcasting or transmission of our audio courses is allowed.

In the same way that a single book can be used by only one person at a time, so long as only one copy of the program is playing at a time and neither the audio file nor course materials are reproduced in any fashion nor stored on a network or Internet storage device or on a network or Internet server, different people can listen to the course at different times.

Our audio courses, including the audio track and the written materials, may not be used in whole or in part in any kind of group presentation, whether presented for free or for any kind of fee.

All comments by our faculty are off the record and not for attribution.

If you want to store our course on a network or shared device and make it available to users on the network or shared device, please contact us so that we can make arrangements for a site license.

Any use of our copyrighted material in a fashion not consistent with this license is a violation of our copyright and against the law.

We pay cash awards up to $25,000 for any information leading to a successful settlement or prosecution of infringement of our licenses and intellectual property. (What that means is that most people and organizations will not infringe as they never know when an anonymous disgruntled employee or former employee or anonymous vengeful ex-spouse might contact us by phone at 703-739-3790 or by email form.)  

• Once the URL for an audio course download is issued, there are no refunds, i.e, for downloaded courses, once the download link has been emailed to the email address given with the order, there are no refunds.

• Audio courses on CD may be returned only if unopened and the security seal is unbroken.

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10.  What happens if I can't download the course?

You can only download a course if you used our secure online shopping cart and paid and completed the transaction. We only accept credit cards as payment for our download courses, and the download link is only sent after payment is approved by your bank.

If you paid for the download and you received a message with a URL for the download and you can not download the course, please call TheCapitol.Net at 703-739-3790, ext. 112. Our staff will assist you in downloading the materials. If you still cannot access them, we will refund your money, send you a copy of the materials via email or substitute the CD version.

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, it is available for free.

Please note that if you do not pay for the course you will not receive a download link.  Orders for audio courses are not taken over the phone, or via fax or regular mail.

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11.  How do I buy an audio course?

Secure online ordering:

For audio CDs: click the "Buy Audio Course on CD" button next to the audio course you want to buy.
                       

For immediate online download: click the "Buy Audio Course as Download" button next to the audio course you want to buy.
                       

Only audio CDs are available via order by fax or regular mail.

FAX: Print the order form , complete with payment information, and FAX to 703-739-1195. (Not accepted for downloads.)

Regular Mail: Print the order form , complete, and mail with your payment to TheCapitol.Net, PO Box 25706, Alexandria, VA 22313-5706. (Not accepted for downloads.)

Sorry, orders are not taken over the phone.

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12.  Can I record or rebroadcast or make copies of an audio course?

No.  Capitol Learning Audio Courses and Informed Citizen Series audio courses are issued with a limited license (see above) and are Copyright (c) (P) by TheCapitol.Net, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

13.  Do you issue Certificates of Training for audio courses?

We do not issue Certificates of Training for our audio courses.

14.  Do you have a mailing list so I can receive mailings about your new audio courses and upcoming courses?

We have several mailing lists: regular mail, fax, and email.


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URL: www.TheCapitol.Net/CapitolLearning/AudioCoursesFAQ.html

Last updated: January 13, 2010