I purchased a mp3 song from Amazon, saved to my hard drive.  Imported it into X2, got a popup window "not supported format".  Then I downloaded the song from a free music site, Imesh.com.  Got another X2 popup window, "you must have a license to use this."
 
How do I import songs from the web into X2?
 
Sonar X2, Windows 8, Sony Viao i5
 
 

1. Select a track in SOANR
2. File->Import

I did "file - import".  X2 started to import the song, then I got those pop up windows and the importing stopped.

I'm certainly no authority, but I think that purchased songs have some type of copy protection.  Probably what you could do as a work around is buy your song (and please purchase all your music: it supports the artists!!), then make a copy of it on a CD, then rip the CD as a WAV file, which you should be able to import into Sonar. 

I believe this is solved in X3, but what you might try is to use an audio editing program of some sort to convert the MP3 into either another MP3, or to WAV format.
 
This used to happen with some MP3 files, and like I said above, I think something in X3 addressed that issue, if memory serves.
 
I happen to use a program called YTD Video Downloader, which is freeware, and I use its conversion functionality to convert media on my computer into various formats, such as MP3 to wav.  You could use this software to do the conversion from your MP3 format to WAV, then you should be able to import into Sonar just fine.
 
Edited - I have removed a link from downloads.com, which is a download site run by CNET Magazine.  Apparently it is not as pristine as it used to be, as I found out per a post further down in this thread.  THANK YOU for bringing that to my attention, microapp.  Here is a link that describes the problem with CNET site: 
 
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/CNET-CBS-Malware-Trojan-Nmap,news-13410.html
 
Here is a link directly to the YTD Video Downloader site: http://www.ytddownloader.com/ instead.
 
On top of the conversion, as I indicated, the software has the ability to download video clips from YouTube.
 
Bob Bone
 

Also Wavosaur. free audio editor well worth having. 
Has the ability to load and covert audio files. 
 
http://www.wavosaur.com/
 

Mr. Bone is correct that CNET downloads will contain adware and search toolbars etc. and will usually require you to uncheck the install options for these . Another issue entirely is that CNET (download.com) also puts the PUP malware program in downloads which have been recently updated. I scan anything I download with Malwarebytes and the last 4 programs I downloaded from CNET contained the PUP malware. CNET hosted programs which have not been updated for 18 months or so are clean so they seem to be adding the malware when the hosted program is updated. CNET has really gone downhill since being aquired by CBS...imagine that. Some of the other big download sites are doing the same thing. It is good practice to scan EVERYTHING you download prior to installing it.
I can't post a link yet but just google "CNET pup" and see what you get.
 
And a big +1 for Wavosaur. It integrates nicely with Sonar, is very fast and needs no installation.
 
Michael
 

Cactus Music
Also Wavosaur. free audio editor well worth having. 
Has the ability to load and covert audio files. 
 
http://www.wavosaur.com/
 

+1.
Sonar and Audacity for everything else.

You can tell right away when it comes to free ware what your dealing with. Personally I have no love for these "download" sites. They show at the top of Google search all the time.. Always look down the list until you find the real vendor. 
Even Wavosaur will show at a few download sites,,, but only a fool would go there. That's why I always post a direct link ( and test it) when recommending software. 
 

I did some checking into the CNET installer program, and I DO agree that tricking folks into installing extra stuff is pretty low.  In my original post, I had explained about the need to be careful about paying attention to the install process, to avoid getting undesired tool bars and ad ware and that sort of thing, but hadn't realized how sneaky it has now gotten.
 
Some antivirus software flags the CNET installer as malware, and after just a short while ago testing out its current behavior, I tend to think they are indeed being sneaky in how that installer works, and I will never recommend its use in the future.
 
The direct link I posted earlier for the YTD Video Downloader works fine, and does not have anything to do with CNET - it is a direct link to the company that wrote the YTD Video Downloader.
 
Bob Bone