difference between downloads and virtual products

[artcoder]

What is the difference between "a product that can be downloaded" versus "setting a product as virtual product"?

The former is described at
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=71
and it says "do not set as virtual product".

The latter, I was not able to find docs on.

Thanks in advanced.

[Ajeh]

Downloads know that they are virtual and trigger a counter to offset shipping for item count, price charge or weight ...

Virtual Products do not know that they are virtual and need to be flagged as such so that shipping is offset for item count, price charge or weight ...

Marking a Download as Virtual would count for 2 and cause a pricing error on shipping ...

So, Downloads are:
1 NEVER marked as Always Free Shipping

2 NEVER marked as Virtual Products

[MarkTJ]

So, Downloads are:
1 NEVER marked as Always Free Shipping

For the sake of anyone searching, I was looking for how to keep the "Free Shipping" GIF (always-free-shipping.gif) from displaying for downloadables. Apparently, as Ajeh said, do not mark downloads as "Always Free Shipping". Instead, it looks like you choose "No, Normal Shipping Rules" and Zen simply "knows better".

Woot!