Products Help

There are two ways to purchase and access our content: 1) with a subscription to the Online Academy or 2) through a selection of individual products or bundles available for once-off purchase from our store.

Subscriptions

Online Academy subscriptions give you access to all our online content, including hundreds of articles and streaming videos plus all further updates for the duration of your subscription. Subscriptions can be monthly or annual. The annual subscription option also includes the following downloadable products:

• Practising the Piano - Multimedia eBook series in four parts (£39.99 if purchased separately)
• Practising the Piano - Annotated Study Edition bundle (£19.99 if purchased separately)
• From the Ground Up - Complete Series Bundle (£19.99 if purchased separately)

Subscriptions renew automatically but can be set to cancel at any time. Furthermore, if you do not renew your annual subscription at the end of the year, you will still retain access to the downloads listed above. Any once-off purchases of lessons or collections made prior to your subscription will also remain available to you regardless of whether your subscription has been renewed.

Click here to subscribe monthly or click here to select the annual option and get over £70 worth of eBook and edition downloads!

Once-off Purchase - Lessons and collections

A selection of Online Academy resources are available for purchase from our store without a subscription. This gives you the option to purchase them individually with a once-off payment or subscribe to get access to all online products (lessons and collections) in addition to other content not available for individual purchase.

Lessons provide a group of one or more articles and videos from the Online Academy on a specific topic for stand-alone purchase. Collections provide bundles of multiple lessons for once-off purchase at a discounted price.

Click here to view a listing of all lessons and collections available for purchase without a subscription.

Once-off Purchase - eBooks and editions

Individual eBooks, study editions are also available for purchase from our store. These publications are available for download in various formats, depending on the type of publications. Editions are usually in PDF format whereas eBooks provide multiple download formats for different devices.

eBook and edition bundles contain multiple publications at a discounted price. Three of our most popular bundles (please see “subscriptions” above) are included in an annual subscription therefore you may want to consider subscribing rather than purchasing them individually as this is more cost-effective.

Click here to view our eBooks catalogue or click here to view our editions catalogue.

Which option is right for me?

• I just want to buy individual eBooks or editions – These can be purchased from our store individually without subscription.
• I’m only interested in specific content from the Online Academy and don’t want to subscribe – You can purchase selected Online Academy resources (lessons and collections) from our store without a subscription.
• I’m only interested in specific content from the Online Academy but may wish to subscribe at a later stage – You can initially purchase selected Online Academy resources from our store without a subscription and subscribe or upgrade at a later stage should you wish to do so.
• I’d like to buy multiple publications, including your most popular bundles – You can purchase these individually from our store or our three most popular bundles are included with an annual subscription to the Online Academy.
• I am only interested in online content, but not the eBook bundles or am not sure whether I’d like an annual subscription – You can initially subscribe to the monthly option and upgrade this to an annual option at any stage should you wish to.

Please follow these steps in order to purchase an eBook or eBook bundle from our store:

1. Choose an eBook or eBook bundle from our catalogue and click “Buy now”
2. Enter the details of the payment card you wish to use to make the payment via our secure credit card gateway
3. Enter the email address which you wish to use to make the purchase (if you already have an account or subscription with us then either log-in or use the email address of your account for your purchases to be automatically added)
4. Download your publications in the formats of your choice (you will also receive an email with the download links - please check your spam / junkmail folders if you don't receive this!)
5. Register an account (optional) to access download links and updates for your purchases at any time

Frequently asked questions

Is your site secure and / or do you store my credit card details?

Our site uses industry standard 128-bit encryption to protect your information. Furthermore, we do not ever store your card details on our servers or have direct access to them as these are handled directly by Stripe which is our state of the art payments gateway.

How do I redeem a voucher?

• Vouchers provide discounts on our eBooks as a percentage of the eBook price or a fixed amount. Free copies e.g. from competitions or special promotions are essentially a 100% discount voucher.
• Vouchers are either general (can be applied to any of our store products) or specific (can only be used for specific store products).
• If you have a specific voucher, or are not sure what type of voucher you have, enter your voucher code into one of the “Redeem” boxes on our website. If the voucher is a specific voucher then you will be taken automatically to the check-out page for the applicable eBook with the voucher applied.
• If your voucher is not for a specific product, please visit our store to select a product before redeeming.
• Some vouchers are only valid for a single email address or user account. If you have one of these vouchers, you will either need to be logged-in or enter the email address associated with the voucher in order to redeem it.
• Please note that vouchers only apply to products purchased directly from our website and are not applicable to other retailers.
• Click here to visit our store to select a product and / or redeem a voucher.

How do I get access to my eBooks?

• On completion of your purchase you will be taken to a page which will provide you with links to download the publications for your purchase.
• You will also receive an email with access links from us (please check your spam / junk mail folders if you don't receive this email).
• You also have the option to register a free account with us which will give you access to your eBooks and updates at any stage via your library.
• If you already have an Informance account or Online Academy subscription and you either purchased your products when logged in or using the same address as that of your login then your purchases will automatically be added to your library.

What formats and / or devices are supported?

We endeavour to provide our publications in as many formats as possible in order to give our customers the choice of which device(s) they would like to use. Most eBooks are in downloadable formats suitable for viewing on a range of devices such as computers, tablets, mobile phones and eReaders. Study Editions are all in Adobe PDF format which is widely supported for viewing and printing on most devices. More information on formats is available under "Accessing Your eBooks" below..

What if I already have an Informance account or Online Academy subscription?

If you are logged-in then any purchases you make will automatically be added to your account. Alternatively, if you aren’t logged in then all you need to do is ensure that you use the same email which you use to log-in when making an eBook purchase and the purchases will also be added to your account. If you don’t have an account then you can register one at any time using the email address which you used to make your purchase.

How are your eBooks protected and are there any DRM restrictions?

Our eBooks come in a range of standard formats and do not have any DRM restrictions. This gives you the freedom to view them on your choice of compatible devices and the peace of mind knowing that you cannot be denied access to files you’ve downloaded at a later stage. In order to protect the work of our authors, we use a novel system called Custos which allows us to detect piracy without impeding upon a legitimate customer’s enjoyment of their eBooks. Click here if you’d like to find out more about how this works.

There are a number of ways to access your eBook downloads and content:

• Purchase confirmation - On completion of your purchase you will be taken to a page which will provide you with links to download the publications for your purchase (you can also access this page from the confirmation email that we send you).
• Email confirmation - You will also receive an email with access links from us (please check your spam / junk mail folders if you don't receive this email).
• Register an account - You also have the option to register a free account with us which will give you access to your eBooks and updates at any stage via your library.
• Your library - If you already have an Informance account or Online Academy subscription and you either purhcased your products when logged in or using the same address as that of your login then your purchases will automatically be added to your library.

Downloads

Our eBooks are available in one or more of the following formats depending on the product (not all formats are available for each title). Please select and download the format that best suits your preferences or requirements:

• PDF – Print-based format for viewing on a wide range of devices using a PDF reader or browser that support PDF viewing. This format is also suitable for printing but multimedia content is accessed via external links and therefore requires an internet connection to view.
• Standard ePub – This re-flowable eBook format is suitable for reading on a wide range of reading applications which support the ePub 2 standard and is ideal for viewing on screen. Free ePub readers (please see below for third-party applications) are available for PC’s and they can also be viewed in the iBooks app on Apple devices. Multimedia content is accessed via external links and therefore requires an internet connection to view.
• Fixed layout ePub - Fixed version of the above format which emulates a print layout, requires a app which supports fixed layout e.g. iBooks on Apple devices or Thorium reader for Windows PC (please see below for third-party applications).
• Enhanced ePub – This format is an enhanced version of the Standard ePub but contains embedded video and media. Therefore, the files are much larger but an internet connection isn’t required to view multimedia content. The format is suitable for reading on applications which support the ePub 3 specification which includes the iBooks app on Apple devices.
• Amazon Kindle – This format is similar to the Standard ePub although is larger and has less formatting. It is designed for viewing on Amazon Kindle Apps across a range of devices including Amazon devices, Android phones and tablets, Windows PC’s etc.

Depending on the format you select and the device(s) that you are using, you may need to install a reading application in order to open your download. The following are some of the most popular options:

• PDF – Most computers and devices have native support or apps installed for viewing PDF’s therefore you shouldn’t need to install anything to view eBooks in this format.
• Standard & enhanced ePub
• Thorium Reader - ePub reader for windows supporting fixed layout ePubs (Click here for more information)
• Adobe Digital Editions – for Windows PC and Mac
• Apple iBooks – pre-installed on iOS devices and Macs with OS X Mavericks or higher
• Android – numerous reading applications are available for Android, including Google Play Books and various others
• Microsoft Edge - ePub is supported natively on Windows 10 with older versions of the Edge browser (unfortunately Microsoft has recently removed ePub support in favour of third party reading apps. Please click here for a list of their recommended reading apps).
• Amazon Kindle - Click here to download the Kindle app for your device

Online content

If your eBook purchase includes online content then you will need to register a free account with us or a free Online Academy subscription using the email address with which you made your purchase in order to access it.

Frequently asked questions

I didn't receive an email from you

Our confirmation emails are automatically generated which means that they can sometimes land up in spam / junk mail folders depending on your email settings. Please check these folders and if you can't find the email from us then click here to contact us and we will resend it to you.

How are your eBooks protected and are there any DRM restrictions?

Our eBooks come in a range of standard formats and do not have any DRM restrictions. This gives you the freedom to view them on your choice of compatible devices and the peace of mind knowing that you cannot be denied access to files you’ve downloaded at a later stage. In order to protect the work of our authors, we use a novel system called Custos which allows us to detect piracy without impeding upon a legitimate customer’s enjoyment of their eBooks. Click here if you’d like to find out more about how this works.

Please follow these steps in order to purchase a lesson from our store:

1. Choose a lesson from our catalogue and click “Buy now”
2. Enter the details of the payment card you wish to use to make the payment via our secure credit card gateway
3. Enter the email address which you wish to use to make the purchase (if you already have an account or subscription with us then either log-in or use the email address of your account for your purchases to be automatically added)
4. Click here to register an account or click here to sign-up for a free subscription to the Online Academy to access your content
5. Your content will be available to you from your library when signed-in

Frequently asked questions

Is your site secure and / or do you store my credit card details?

Our site uses industry standard 128-bit encryption to protect your information. Furthermore, we do not ever store your card details on our servers or have direct access to them as these are handled directly by Stripe which is our state of the art payments gateway.

How do I redeem a voucher?

• Vouchers provide discounts on our products as a percentage of the product price or a fixed amount. Free copies e.g. from competitions or special promotions are essentially a 100% discount voucher.
• Vouchers are either general (can be applied to any of our store products) or specific (can only be used for specific store products).
• If you have a specific voucher, or are not sure what type of voucher you have, enter your voucher code into one of the “Redeem” boxes on our website. If the voucher is a specific voucher then you will be taken automatically to the check-out page for the applicable eBook with the voucher applied.
• If your voucher is not for a specific product, please visit our store to select a product before redeeming.
• Some vouchers are only valid for a single email address or user account. If you have one of these vouchers, you will either need to be logged-in or enter the email address associated with the voucher in order to redeem it.
• Please note that vouchers only apply to products purchased directly from our website and are not applicable to other retailers.
• Click here to visit our store to select a product and / or redeem a voucher.

How do I get access to my content?

• On completion of your purchase you will be taken to a page which will provide you with links to view the content for your purchase.
• You will also receive an email with access links from us (please check your spam / junk mail folders if you don't receive this email).
• If you already have an Informance account or Online Academy subscription and you either purchased your products when logged in or using the same address as that of your login then your purchases will automatically be added to your library.
• If you don't have an account with us then you will need to either register or sign up for a free subscription to the Online Academy to access your content.
• Your content will be available to you from your library when signed-in and also in the "Lessons" tab in the "My content" box at the top of your dashboard.

Frequently asked questions

I didn't receive an email from you

Our confirmation emails are automatically generated which means that they can sometimes land up in spam / junk mail folders depending on your email settings. Please check these folders and if you can't find the email from us then click here to contact us and we will resend it to you.

Please follow these steps in order to purchase a course from our store:

1. Choose a course from our catalogue and click “Buy now”
2. Enter the details of the payment card you wish to use to make the payment via our secure credit card gateway
3. Enter the email address which you wish to use to make the purchase (if you already have an account or subscription with us then either log-in or use the email address of your account for your purchases to be automatically added)
4. Click here to register an account or click here to sign-up for a free subscription to the Online Academy to access your content
5. Your content will be available to you from your library when signed-in

Frequently asked questions

Is your site secure and / or do you store my credit card details?

Our site uses industry standard 128-bit encryption to protect your information. Furthermore, we do not ever store your card details on our servers or have direct access to them as these are handled directly by Stripe which is our state of the art payments gateway.

How do I redeem a voucher?

• Vouchers provide discounts on our products as a percentage of the product price or a fixed amount. Free copies e.g. from competitions or special promotions are essentially a 100% discount voucher.
• Vouchers are either general (can be applied to any of our store products) or specific (can only be used for specific store products).
• If you have a specific voucher, or are not sure what type of voucher you have, enter your voucher code into one of the “Redeem” boxes on our website. If the voucher is a specific voucher then you will be taken automatically to the check-out page for the applicable eBook with the voucher applied.
• If your voucher is not for a specific product, please visit our store to select a product before redeeming.
• Some vouchers are only valid for a single email address or user account. If you have one of these vouchers, you will either need to be logged-in or enter the email address associated with the voucher in order to redeem it.
• Please note that vouchers only apply to products purchased directly from our website and are not applicable to other retailers.
• Click here to visit our store to select a product and / or redeem a voucher.

How do I get access to my content?

• On completion of your purchase you will be taken to a page which will provide you with links to view the content for your purchase.
• You will also receive an email with access links from us (please check your spam / junk mail folders if you don't receive this email).
• If you already have an Informance account or Online Academy subscription and you either purchased your products when logged in or using the same address as that of your login then your purchases will automatically be added to your library.
• If you don't have an account with us then you will need to either register or sign up for a free subscription to the Online Academy to access your content.
• Your content will be available to you from your library when signed-in and also in the "Courses" tab in the "My content" box at the top of your dashboard.

How do I navigate a course?

• The course home page contains an index of the parts and sections within each of them.
• You can start the course by clicking on the start button at the bottom of the page (we recommend doing this as it will save location and allow you to run through the course sequentially).
• The course home page and index will also allow you to view indexes for other parts and to navigate directly to specific sections e.g. if you want to go back to reference a section that you have viewed previously.
• The part index shows what you’ve viewed and completed within a section with a tick next to the relevant section title (a section is marked complete if you click “Next” after viewing it).
• Click “Start” to view the first section.
• When you are finished viewing a video and reading contents on a page, clicking “Next” at the bottom of the page will mark the section as complete and move onto the next video.
• Clicking “Previous” will take you back to the previous section.
• You can also navigate between the sections with the current part using the menu on the right-hand side of the screen or view the part index by clicking on the part title. You can go back to the main index / course home by clicking on the title of the course above the part title.
• The breadcrumbs can also be used to view the whole course or part index at any time.

How do I view and interact with course content?

• Click on the “Play” button to start video playback.
• Certain videos are divided up into chapters which can be jumped to by clicking on the dots on the video timeline or through the chapter listing which can be opened by clicking on the button next to the gear icon on the video player (please note that this only shows for videos that have chapters!).
• Certain chapters and places within have video notes and musical examples that relate to the video content. These will display below the video at the relevant time during playback.
• For videos with a significant number of musical examples, a printable version of the examples can be downloaded using the link provided (this might be especially useful when using a mobile device and / or using the examples at a keyboard).

Frequently asked questions

I didn't receive an email from you

Our confirmation emails are automatically generated which means that they can sometimes land up in spam / junk mail folders depending on your email settings. Please check these folders and if you can't find the email from us then click here to contact us and we will resend it to you.

Please follow these steps in order to sign-up for and attend one of our online workshops:

1. Choose an event from our listing and click “Buy now”
2. Enter the details of the payment card you wish to use to make the payment via our secure credit card gateway
3. Enter the email address which you wish to use to make the purchase (if you already have an account or subscription with us then either log-in or use the email address of your account for your purchases to be automatically added)
4. Click here to register an account or click here to sign-up for a free subscription to the Online Academy to access your content
5. On confirmation of your purchase you will be taken to a page with registration instructions for the event and will also receive an email with these details
6. We use Zoom to deliver our online workshops. You don’t need an account to participate but you can create one and test your set-up in advance for free here. You can also join a test meeting here. We strongly recommend ensuring that your set-up is working long before the workshop as we will unfortunately be unable to assist with any technical issues during the event!
7. You can also view the details of any events you've purchased tickets for in your library when signed-in

Frequently asked questions

How do your online workshops work?

We use Zoom, a widely used platform to deliver the workshops which is free for participants and easy to use and install. The workshops are presented over video using a combination of camera angles (including a close-up for specific hand and finger movements) and slides. There is a comments / chat function which allows participants to submit questions which are answered at various stages throughout the sessions.

What do I if I book but can’t attend on the day?

We record all the sessions and participants receive an email shortly afterwards with links to the video recording and any other resources e.g. slides and worksheets.

I’m an Online Academy subscriber – how do I obtain my subscriber discount?

Details for how to purchase discount tickets will be emailed to you but please make sure that you have joined our mailing list for updates on events and any applicable offers!

How do I find out about other event details and notifications?

We publish updates and notifications for future events by email (please click here to sign-up for our mailing list), our courses and events page on our website and our events listing on Facebook.

Do I have to have camera and / or microphone?

No, you do not have to use video or your microphone if you don’t want to. Questions can also be submitted via the comments / text chat function.

How do I access my purchases?

Please see "Accessing Your eBooks" or "Lessons & Courses" above for further instructions (or click here to access via your library if you have an account or subscription with us).

I am trying to access my eBooks via my account but I receive a message saying that I need to confirm my email address

Your eBooks are registered to your email address therefore we need to confirm your email address in order to provide you with access to them. To confirm your email address, you simply need to click on the link in the confirmation email we sent you after registering your account. You can resend the confirmation email via the link in the message informing you that you need to confirm your address (please see the answer to the next question if you don’t receive the confirmation email after re-sending it).

I haven’t received any emails from you (e.g. confirmation of purchase, change of password)

Although we use state of the art email software and comply with all relevant best practices to ensure a good sender reputation, it is possible that our emails have ended up in your spam / junk mail folder (or “Clutter” in Microsoft Outlook) therefore please check these folders for your emails. You can also add our email address (contact [at] informance [dot] biz) to your whitelist.

What devices and formats are supported?

We provide eBooks in a number of formats suitable for viewing across a wide range of devices. Please click here for more information on formats, reading applications and devices.

How are your eBooks protected and are there any DRM restrictions?

Our eBooks come in a range of standard formats and do not have any DRM restrictions. This gives you the freedom to view them on your choice of compatible devices and the peace of mind knowing that you cannot be denied access to files you’ve downloaded at a later stage. In order to protect the work of our authors, we use a novel system called Custos which allows us to detect piracy without impeding upon a legitimate customer’s enjoyment of their eBooks.

Why is Part 2 divided up into two separate publications and / or why does it have two “enhanced ePub” file downloads?

Due to the number of videos in Part 2, the enhanced version with embedded video was too large for some devices and viewing applications and therefore caused them to crash. As a result, we’ve created a separate publication for the enhanced version of Part 2 which is split into two files. Therefore you’d need to download both files if you want the enhanced option but you only need to download a single file for all of the other formats.

I’m trying to download an eBook but I receive an error or nothing seems to be happening?

Some of our eBooks contain embedded multimedia content and therefore are large files which can take a while to download depending on your internet connection and a number of other factors. As a further note, on iOS devices you do need to make sure that the browser window stays open until the download is completed in order to access the file.

I am a subscriber to the Online Academy, how do I get access to eBooks and study editions?

If you have an annual (or premium) subscription to the Online Academy then Practising the Piano eBooks and Edition bundles will have been automatically added to your account and are available in your library.