diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index e5019407..949c8d0e 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ module.exports = function nuts(opts) {
 
                     // Change filename to use download proxy
                     .map(function(entry) {
-                        entry.filename = getBaseDownloadUrl(req) + entry.version+'/'+entry.filename;
+                        entry.filename = getBaseDownloadUrl(req) + '/' + entry.version+'/'+entry.filename;
 
                         return entry;
                     })
diff --git a/lib/versions.js b/lib/versions.js
index c6707735..3ccce76d 100644
--- a/lib/versions.js
+++ b/lib/versions.js
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ var semver = require('semver');
 
 var platforms = require('./platforms');
 
+var channelRe = /^[a-z]*/
+
 // Creates filter function that checks for updates
 function newVersionFilter(opts) {
     return function(version) {
@@ -41,6 +43,8 @@ function supportsPlatform(requestedPlatform, versionPlatforms) {
             platforms.satisfies(requestedPlatform, _.pluck(versionPlatforms, 'type')));
 }
 
+
+
 module.exports = function(github, opts) {
     // Normalize tag name
     function normalizeTag(tag) {
@@ -53,7 +57,7 @@ module.exports = function(github, opts) {
         var suffix = tag.split('-')[1];
         if (!suffix) return 'stable';
 
-        return suffix.split('.')[0];
+        return suffix.match(channelRe)[0] || suffix.split('.')[0];
     }
 
     // Normalize a release to a version
diff --git a/lib/win-releases.js b/lib/win-releases.js
index 29055c54..b5790bd1 100644
--- a/lib/win-releases.js
+++ b/lib/win-releases.js
@@ -2,43 +2,14 @@ var _ = require('lodash');
 var semver = require('semver');
 var stripBom = require('strip-bom');
 
-// Ordered list of supported channel
-var CHANNEL_MAGINITUDE = 1000;
-var CHANNELS = [
-    'alpha', 'beta', 'unstable', 'rc'
-];
-
 // RELEASES parsing
 var releaseRe = /^([0-9a-fA-F]{40})\s+(\S+)\s+(\d+)[\r]*$/;
-
-
-// Hash a prerelease
-function hashPrerelease(s) {
-    if (_.isString(s[0])) {
-        return (_.indexOf(CHANNELS, s[0]) + 1) * CHANNEL_MAGINITUDE + (s[1] || 0);
-    } else {
-        return s[0];
-    }
-};
-
-// Map a semver version to a windows version
-function normVersion(tag) {
-    var parts = new semver.SemVer(tag);
-    var prerelease = "";
-
-    if (parts.prerelease && parts.prerelease.length > 0) {
-        prerelease = hashPrerelease(parts.prerelease);
-    }
-
-    return [
-        parts.major,
-        parts.minor,
-        parts.patch
-    ].join('.') + (prerelease? '.'+prerelease : '');
-}
+var suffixRe = /(-full|-delta)?\.nupkg/;
+var versionRe = /\d+(\.\d+){0,3}(-[a-z][0-9a-z-\.]*$)?$/;
+var prereleaseRe = /-[a-z][0-9a-z-\.]*$/;
 
 // Parse RELEASES file
-// https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Windows/blob/0d1250aa6f0c25fe22e92add78af327d1277d97d/src/Squirrel/ReleaseExtensions.cs#L19
+// https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Windows/blob/2cc6bfe3c51d0cd0a56511deb8bdab8172aed409/src/Squirrel/ReleaseExtensions.cs#L13-L14
 function parseRELEASES(content) {
     return _.chain(stripBom(content))
         .replace('\r\n', '\n')
@@ -49,21 +20,22 @@ function parseRELEASES(content) {
 
             var filename = parts[2];
             var isDelta = filename.indexOf('-full.nupkg') == -1;
-
-            var filenameParts = filename
-                .replace(".nupkg", "")
-                .replace("-delta", "")
-                .replace("-full", "")
-                .split(/\.|-/)
-                .reverse();
-
-            var version = _.chain(filenameParts)
-                .filter(function(x) {
-                    return /^\d+$/.exec(x);
+            var version = _.chain(
+                        filename
+                        .replace(suffixRe, '')
+                        .match(versionRe)
+                )
+                .thru(function(matchResult) {
+                    return matchResult ? matchResult[0] : '';
+                })
+                .replace(prereleaseRe, function(prerelease) {
+                    // NuGet doesn't support dots in prereleases
+                    // https://docs.nuget.org/create/versioning#user-content-prerelease-versions
+                    return prerelease.replace(/\./g, '');
                 })
-                .reverse()
-                .value()
-                .join('.');
+                .value();
+
+                if (!version) throw new Error('Release missing valid version: ' + filename);
 
             return {
                 sha: parts[1],
@@ -100,7 +72,6 @@ function generateRELEASES(entries) {
 }
 
 module.exports = {
-    normVersion: normVersion,
     parse: parseRELEASES,
     generate: generateRELEASES
 };
diff --git a/test/versions.js b/test/versions.js
index b714ef8f..098ab1a6 100644
--- a/test/versions.js
+++ b/test/versions.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 var
   _ = require('lodash'),
+  Q = require('q'),
   should = require('should'),
   rewire = require('rewire');
 
@@ -7,183 +8,282 @@ describe('Versions', function() {
 
   var Versions = rewire('../lib/versions');
 
-  var testVersions = [
-    { tag: '0.0.8-alpha.1',
-      channel: 'alpha',
-      notes: 'More placeholder text.',
-      published_at: 'Mon Dec 14 2015 12:13:58 GMT-0800 (PST)',
-      platforms: [{
-        type: 'osx_64'
-      }, {
-        type: 'windows_32'
-      }],
-      download_count: 3 },
-    { tag: '0.0.7',
-      channel: 'stable',
-      notes: 'Kinda drifted away from the story thing and I\'m just writing random stuff now.',
-      published_at: 'Mon Dec 14 2015 11:41:30 GMT-0800 (PST)',
-      platforms: [{
-        type: 'osx_64'
-      }, {
-        type: 'windows_32'
-      }],
-      download_count: 0 },
-    { tag: '0.0.7-beta.1',
-      channel: 'beta',
-      notes: 'A beautiful brand new release',
-      published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 17:01:43 GMT-0800 (PST)',
-      platforms: [{
-        type: 'osx_64'
-      }, {
-        type: 'windows_32'
-      }],
-      download_count: 0 },
-    { tag: '0.0.7-alpha.2',
-      channel: 'alpha',
-      notes: 'More excitement!!!',
-      published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 17:21:08 GMT-0800 (PST)',
-      platforms: [{
-        type: 'osx_64'
-      }, {
-        type: 'windows_32'
-      }],
-      download_count: 0 },
-    { tag: '0.0.7-alpha.1',
-      channel: 'alpha',
-      notes: 'A beautiful brand new release',
-      published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 17:01:43 GMT-0800 (PST)',
-      platforms: [{
-        type: 'windows_32'
-      }],
-      download_count: 0 },
-    { tag: '0.0.6',
-      channel: 'stable',
-      notes: 'A wonderful new release!',
-      published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 15:55:45 GMT-0800 (PST)',
-      platforms: [{
-        type: 'osx_64'
-      }],
-      download_count: 2 }
-    ];
+  describe('when extracting a channel from a tag', function() {
+
+    var mockGithubReleases = [
+      {
+        expectations: {
+          channel: 'alpha'
+        },
+        data: {
+          tag_name: '0.0.8-alpha.20151214.1',
+          name: '0.0.8-alpha.20151214.1',
+          assets: [ {
+            url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/skewart/hooktest/releases/assets/1120656',
+            name: 'AlphaTest-osx-0.0.6-alpha.20151211.1.zip',
+            content_type: 'application/x-msdownload',
+            size: 168493,
+            download_count: 0,
+          }, {
+            url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/skewart/hooktest/releases/assets/1120656',
+            name: 'AlphaTest-osx-0.0.6-alpha.20151211.1.dmg',
+            content_type: 'application/x-msdownload',
+            size: 168493,
+            download_count: 0,
+          }]
+        }
+      },
+      {
+        expectations: {
+          channel: '3000'
+        },
+        data: {
+          tag_name: '0.0.8-3000.20151214.1',
+          name: '0.0.8-3000.20151214.1',
+          assets: [ {
+            url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/skewart/hooktest/releases/assets/1120656',
+            name: 'AlphaTest-osx-0.0.6-3000.20151211.1.zip',
+            content_type: 'application/x-msdownload',
+            size: 168493,
+            download_count: 0,
+          }, {
+            url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/skewart/hooktest/releases/assets/1120656',
+            name: 'AlphaTest-osx-0.0.6-3000.20151211.1.dmg',
+            content_type: 'application/x-msdownload',
+            size: 168493,
+            download_count: 0,
+          }]
+        }
+      },
+      {
+        expectations: {
+          channel: 'alpha'
+        },
+        data: {
+          tag_name: '0.0.8-alpha201512101',
+          name: '0.0.8-alpha201512101',
+          assets: [ {
+            url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/skewart/hooktest/releases/assets/1120656',
+            name: 'AlphaTest-osx-0.0.6-alpha201512101.zip',
+            content_type: 'application/x-msdownload',
+            size: 168493,
+            download_count: 0,
+          }, {
+            url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/skewart/hooktest/releases/assets/1120656',
+            name: 'AlphaTest-osx-0.0.6-alpha201512101.dmg',
+            content_type: 'application/x-msdownload',
+            size: 168493,
+            download_count: 0,
+          }]
+        }
+      }
+    ]
+
+    _.map(mockGithubReleases, function(release) {
+
+      var versions = Versions({
+        releases: function() {
+          return Q.fcall(function() {
+            return [release.data];
+          });
+        }
+      });
+
+      var expectedChannel = release.expectations.channel,
+        tag = release.data.tag_name;
 
-  function testVersionFilter(filterName, scenarios) {
-    describe(filterName, function() {
-      var filterFunction = Versions.__get__(filterName);
-
-      scenarios.forEach(function(scenario) {
-        var opts = scenario.opts,
-          description = 'with opts = { tag: ' + opts.tag + ', channel: ' + opts.channel
-            + ', platform: ' + opts.platform + ' }, return -> [' + scenario.expectation.join(', ') + ']';
-
-        it(description, function() {
-          var result = _.chain(testVersions)
-            .filter(filterFunction(scenario.opts))
-            .pluck('tag')
-            .value()
-            .join(', ')
-            .should.equal(scenario.expectation.join(', '));
+      it('should get channel ' + expectedChannel + ' from tag ' + tag, function(done) {
+        versions.list().then(function(versions) {
+          versions[0].channel.should.be.exactly(expectedChannel);
+          done();
         });
       });
+
     });
-  }
-
-  testVersionFilter('newVersionFilter', [
-    {
-      opts: {
-        tag: '0.0.7',
-        platform: 'osx',
-        channel: undefined
-      },
-      expectation: ['0.0.7']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        tag: '0.0.6',
-        platform: 'osx',
-        channel: undefined
+
+  });
+
+  describe('filtering', function() {
+
+    function testVersionFilter(filterName, scenarios) {
+      describe('with ' + filterName, function() {
+        var filterFunction = Versions.__get__(filterName);
+
+        scenarios.forEach(function(scenario) {
+          var opts = scenario.opts,
+            description = 'with opts = { tag: ' + opts.tag + ', channel: ' + opts.channel
+              + ', platform: ' + opts.platform + ' }, return -> [' + scenario.expectation.join(', ') + ']';
+
+          it(description, function() {
+            var result = _.chain(testVersions)
+              .filter(filterFunction(scenario.opts))
+              .pluck('tag')
+              .value()
+              .join(', ')
+              .should.equal(scenario.expectation.join(', '));
+          });
+        });
+      });
+    }
+
+    var testVersions = [
+      { tag: '0.0.8-alpha.1',
+        channel: 'alpha',
+        notes: 'More placeholder text.',
+        published_at: 'Mon Dec 14 2015 12:13:58 GMT-0800 (PST)',
+        platforms: [{
+          type: 'osx_64'
+        }, {
+          type: 'windows_32'
+        }],
+        download_count: 3 },
+      { tag: '0.0.7',
+        channel: 'stable',
+        notes: 'Kinda drifted away from the story thing and I\'m just writing random stuff now.',
+        published_at: 'Mon Dec 14 2015 11:41:30 GMT-0800 (PST)',
+        platforms: [{
+          type: 'osx_64'
+        }, {
+          type: 'windows_32'
+        }],
+        download_count: 0 },
+      { tag: '0.0.7-beta.1',
+        channel: 'beta',
+        notes: 'A beautiful brand new release',
+        published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 17:01:43 GMT-0800 (PST)',
+        platforms: [{
+          type: 'osx_64'
+        }, {
+          type: 'windows_32'
+        }],
+        download_count: 0 },
+      { tag: '0.0.7-alpha.2',
+        channel: 'alpha',
+        notes: 'More excitement!!!',
+        published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 17:21:08 GMT-0800 (PST)',
+        platforms: [{
+          type: 'osx_64'
+        }, {
+          type: 'windows_32'
+        }],
+        download_count: 0 },
+      { tag: '0.0.7-alpha.1',
+        channel: 'alpha',
+        notes: 'A beautiful brand new release',
+        published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 17:01:43 GMT-0800 (PST)',
+        platforms: [{
+          type: 'windows_32'
+        }],
+        download_count: 0 },
+      { tag: '0.0.6',
+        channel: 'stable',
+        notes: 'A wonderful new release!',
+        published_at: 'Fri Dec 11 2015 15:55:45 GMT-0800 (PST)',
+        platforms: [{
+          type: 'osx_64'
+        }],
+        download_count: 2 }
+    ];
+
+    testVersionFilter('newVersionFilter', [
+      {
+        opts: {
+          tag: '0.0.7',
+          platform: 'osx',
+          channel: undefined
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.7']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.7', '0.0.6']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        tag: '0.0.7-beta.1',
-        platform: 'osx',
-        channel: undefined
+      {
+        opts: {
+          tag: '0.0.6',
+          platform: 'osx',
+          channel: undefined
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.7', '0.0.6']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        tag: '0.0.7-alpha.2',
-        platform: 'osx',
-        channel: 'alpha'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          tag: '0.0.7-beta.1',
+          platform: 'osx',
+          channel: undefined
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        tag: '0.0.7-beta.1',
-        platform: 'osx',
-        channel: 'beta'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          tag: '0.0.7-alpha.2',
+          platform: 'osx',
+          channel: 'alpha'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.7-beta.1']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        tag: '0.0.7-alpha.1',
-        platform: 'windows',
-        channel: 'alpha'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          tag: '0.0.7-beta.1',
+          platform: 'osx',
+          channel: 'beta'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.7-beta.1']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2', '0.0.7-alpha.1']
-    }
-  ]);
-
-  testVersionFilter('allVersionFilter', [
-    {
-      opts: {},
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
-        '0.0.7-alpha.1', '0.0.6']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        platform: 'osx'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          tag: '0.0.7-alpha.1',
+          platform: 'windows',
+          channel: 'alpha'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2', '0.0.7-alpha.1']
+      }
+    ]);
+
+    testVersionFilter('allVersionFilter', [
+      {
+        opts: {},
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
+          '0.0.7-alpha.1', '0.0.6']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
-        '0.0.6']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        platform: 'windows'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          platform: 'osx'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
+          '0.0.6']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
-        '0.0.7-alpha.1']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        channel: 'alpha'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          platform: 'windows'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
+          '0.0.7-alpha.1']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2', '0.0.7-alpha.1']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        channel: '*'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          channel: 'alpha'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2', '0.0.7-alpha.1']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
-        '0.0.7-alpha.1', '0.0.6']
-    },
-    {
-      opts: {
-        channel: 'alpha',
-        platform: 'osx'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          channel: '*'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7', '0.0.7-beta.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2',
+          '0.0.7-alpha.1', '0.0.6']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2']
-    },
-    {
-     opts: {
-        tag: '0.0.7-alpha.2'
+      {
+        opts: {
+          channel: 'alpha',
+          platform: 'osx'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.8-alpha.1', '0.0.7-alpha.2']
       },
-      expectation: ['0.0.7-alpha.2']
-    }
-  ]);
+      {
+       opts: {
+          tag: '0.0.7-alpha.2'
+        },
+        expectation: ['0.0.7-alpha.2']
+      }
+    ]);
+
+  });
 
 });
diff --git a/test/win-releases.js b/test/win-releases.js
index b2a1a0fb..9ab2ec9a 100644
--- a/test/win-releases.js
+++ b/test/win-releases.js
@@ -1,26 +1,9 @@
 var should = require('should');
+var assert = require('assert');
 var winReleases = require('../lib/win-releases');
 
 describe('Windows RELEASES', function() {
 
-    describe('Version Normalization', function() {
-
-        it('should not changed version without pre-release', function() {
-            winReleases.normVersion('1.0.0').should.be.exactly('1.0.0');
-            winReleases.normVersion('4.5.0').should.be.exactly('4.5.0');
-            winReleases.normVersion('67.8.345').should.be.exactly('67.8.345');
-        });
-
-        it('should normalize the pre-release', function() {
-            winReleases.normVersion('1.0.0-alpha.1').should.be.exactly('1.0.0.1001');
-            winReleases.normVersion('1.0.0-beta.1').should.be.exactly('1.0.0.2001');
-            winReleases.normVersion('1.0.0-unstable.1').should.be.exactly('1.0.0.3001');
-            winReleases.normVersion('1.0.0-rc.1').should.be.exactly('1.0.0.4001');
-            winReleases.normVersion('1.0.0-14').should.be.exactly('1.0.0.14');
-        });
-
-    });
-
     describe('Parsing', function() {
         var releases = winReleases.parse(
             '62E8BF432F29E8E08240910B85EDBF2D1A41EDF2 atom-0.178.0-full.nupkg 81272434\n' +
@@ -66,6 +49,23 @@ describe('Windows RELEASES', function() {
 
     });
 
+    describe('Parsing pre-releases', function() {
+        var releases = winReleases.parse(
+            '62E8BF432F29E8E08240910B85EDBF2D1A41EDF2 atom-0.178.0-beta.20160120.1-full.nupkg 81272434\n'
+        );
+
+        it('should correctly parse versions', function() {
+            releases[0].version.should.be.exactly('0.178.0-beta201601201');
+        });
+
+        it('should throw an appropriate error if a release has no version info', function() {
+            var releaseWithNoVersion = '62E8BF432F29E8E08240910B85EDBF2D1A41EDF2 atom-full.nupkg 81272434\n'
+            assert.throws(winReleases.parse.bind(winReleases, releaseWithNoVersion),
+                Error, 'Release missing valid version: atom-full.nupkg');
+        });
+
+    });
+
     describe('Generations', function() {
         var input = '62E8BF432F29E8E08240910B85EDBF2D1A41EDF2 atom-0.178.0-full.nupkg 81272434\n' +
             '5D754139E89802E88984185D2276B54DB730CD5E atom-0.178.1-delta.nupkg 8938535\n' +