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Beginners Guide: How To Pick the Right Store for You

This short article was written with the intention of giving people new to these sites a quick overview of the most popular sites currently, while addressing the points that are probably most important to you as you make a decision between them. Hopefully this will save some time for those that just want to know where to go to start downloading as quickly as possible. For more in-depth information on all of these sites (and several more), please use links on the left navigation area and click on the site you are interested in under "Reviews". To see all of the sites compared side-by-side, please see the very handy comparison matrix.

Here are the questions and answers that most newcomers ask. I would suggest clicking on the question that is most important to you first. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to send a message using our contact form - we're always happy to help out.

 

Questions:

Answers:

Q: Which site is the most popular?

A: According to the readers of SongBoom and feedback we've received, here are the sites that are currently most popular:

  1. LegalSounds
  2. MP3Fiesta [now called MP3Panda]
  3. MP3Sale
  4. MP3SkyLine
  5. SoundsBox

Q: Which site is the cheapest per track and album?

A: The top five cheapest sites per track:

  1. LegalSounds
  2. MP3Fiesta [now called MP3Panda]
  3. MP3Sale
  4. Iomoio
  5. Soundike

And the top five cheapest sites per album:

  1. MP3Fiesta [now called MP3Panda]
  2. LegalSounds
  3. SoundsBox
  4. MP3Sale
  5. Soundike

Q: Which site accepts credit cards, and how do I know that it's safe?

A: Pretty much all of the sites reviewed here accept credit cards. Some of the sites accept payments directly on their site, while others direct you to an off site payment processor (Chronopay, SWREG, etc). Here is a list (sorted by site popularity) of how credit card payments are handled by each site:

Generally, using third party credit card processor is safe - their livelihood is based on being able to conduct credit card transactions securely for all kinds of businesses on the internet. If you want to learn more about a specific credit card processor, I suggest doing a quick google on it or look at the processor's website to get an idea of who will be handling your credit card transactions.

Q: Which site has the best selection of music?

A: The answer is really subject to your personal preference. Some people will like one catalog over another based on how much of their favorite music is available or not. But as far as sites having a good selection across-the-board and not catering to any one specific group of music, these five will have the best selections (in no particular order):

  1. MP3Fiesta [now MP3Panda]
  2. MP3Sale
  3. LegalSounds
  4. SoundsBox
  5. Iomoio

Q: Which site has music that fits my style (electronica, dance, jazz, new age, rock, pop, etc)?

A: While most sites attempt to cater to the widest selection of people as possible, a couple of sites target specific audiences.

  • MP3SkyLine - absolutely THE biggest source for electronic and rare music - dance, DJ's, trance, rave, ambient, idm, breakbeat, etc.
  • MP3Fiesta [now MP3Panda] and LegalSounds have a wide selection that will likely appeal to almost everyone, including some niche content.
  • SoundsBox has some niche content as well
  • MP3Sale has a variety of music that these other sites don't have either.

In order to decide which site really fits your style, you should really click on the sites and do a search and check out the results.

Q: Which site has the best search capability?

A: While most websites have acceptable search capability, MP3Sale is currently the favorite among them for producing the most flexible results.

Q: Do any sites have audio books?

A: Yes, these do: MP3Search, GoMusic, MP3.ua.

Q: What about song previews?

A: All websites have song previews of differing quality and length. If you are interested in full length previews, then you should check out MP3Sale.

Q: Which site is easiest to download from?

A: Most sites use 'click-to-download', which means you'll either click on a link to each track or entire album to download it. Because of this, we strongly recommend using a download manager (please see the FAQ answer on download managers). Alternatively, SoundsBox provides a download program, as well as LegalSounds.

Q: Which sites accept requests?

A: We have heard from users that SoundsBox and MP3Sale (in the forums) accept music requests.

Q: What about DRM restrictions?

A: No websites reviewed here have DRM of any kind.

Q: Where can I just see all sites compared side-by-side?

A: Please check the comparison matrix.