Easy Digital Downloads is an exciting new WordPress plugin now available from Pippin’s Plugins. It is a complete download delivery system for WordPress.
The plugin’s developer, Pippin Williamson, explains why he created this plugin, despite the fact that there are many other e-commerce plugins out there capable of selling digital downloads.
One of the main ideas behind the plugin is to provide a system that is only for digital downloads and does not also attempt to do 10,000 other tasks, like many of the e-commerce plugins available for WordPress.
One of the best features of Easy Digital Downloads is that it’s incredibly easy to use. Creating a download is as simple as writing a WordPress post:
You can manage all of your downloads directly through the WordPress dashboard:
Easy Digital Downloads features:
- 100% Free: No license restrictions or expensive download costs. Sell your downloads without spending a dime.
- Lightweight: No feature bloat, provides only what you need for selling your downloads.
- Cart System: Users can purchase multiple downloads at once with the included AJAX shopping cart.
- Discount Codes: Create your own discount codes, offered as a set amount or percentage based, including options for auto expiration and maximum uses.
- Payment Gateways: Current gateways include Stripe, PayPal and Authorize.net coming soon with more in development.
Users can purchase downloads on the front end just as you would with a standard shopping cart:
Payment history for all purchases is then available to the admin through the dashboard:
Want to see more of what the plugin does before downloading it? Check out the massive gallery of screenshots included on the plugin’s homepage.
There’s also a demo video if you’d like to see it in action:
Cut the bloat – get a shopping cart made specifically for digital downloads
Of course, there’s no risk in just downloading it and setting up the beta on your test server, since the plugin is 100% free. If you operate a store that sells digital downloads exclusively, this plugin should be on your shortlist for consideration as a WordPress shopping cart solution. Easy Digital Downloads is now live and available for download today from Pippin’s Plugins.
Pippin is a good, responsive developer and I’m always pleased with his plugins. I’m looking forward to Easy Digital Downloads making it out of beta.
Just installed this plugin and quite impressed so far and Pippin has been very responsive on questions I have posted on his Facebook page.
Thanks everyone! Just FYI, the plugin (still in beta) is now available from the WordPress repository: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/easy-digital-downloads/
Nice work man. I’m trying the plug-in out now on a client’s site. The only problem I’ve encountered so far is it only let’s me upload one download per item…I’ll go to “Add New” but they won’t actually add. I’m trying to add a complete album (consists of 13 tracks – I zipped them but it exceeded the client’s limit of 32 MB, so I have to break it up). Keep up the good work man and let me know if I’m doing something wrong there. Thanks!
The bug with the “Add New” button not working should be fixed with the new beta version. You can get beta 9 here: https://github.com/mordauk/Easy-Digital-Downloads/downloads
Hello—I am curious Joel, if you found a solution yet for downloading full albums, exceeding WordPress’ maximum size of a mere 32MB! I am also doing a music website and need a solution for this!
Otherwise, how did you “break it up” and still make it buyer-friendly to download? Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Is it possible not to force the customer to create and account? And go directly to Paypal?
Is the plugin translatable ready and foreign currency capable?
Yes, guest checkout is an option. When PayPal is the only gateway enabled, the user is taken directly to the checkout overview page with the “Purchase” button, which goes directly to PayPal.
Yes, the plugin is ready for translation and foreign currency. The currency depends largely upon the payment gateway, but about 20 different currencies are included in the plugin by default.
Hello! I am wondering if there is a way to include audio previews of an MP3 song, for example, using this plugin? Or would that be something entirely separate?
Thank you!!
Also, one more question for you! Whats it the link URL all about? Is on option better than another for security purposes (e.g.. protecting the files from public downloading)?
THANK YOU!!!
The file URL is never revealed and all files are stored in a restricted directory, making it very difficult to download files without purchasing them.
Got it! Thank you!
There is an add-on being built designed specifically for showing song previews. I’m not quite sure when it will be finished, but probably within a week or two.
Oh that’s awesome!
Is it possible to add the purchases from the back end, open the users from the back end and then send an email to the purhasers with their user name and passwords so that they get to the downloads page?
Manually adding purchases is not yet possible, but it will be at some point soon.
Hi there, I am about to develop a site with music downloads. This client will have one that has a digital watermark (to protect copyright) and the one that will be downloadable upon purchase. Is this do-able through your plugin?
And also is there a way to link your plugin with an embedded media player to enable tracks to be played on-site?
I found this plugin and love it – but have a few questions. Basically, I want to be able to list about 10 different songs on a single “Music” page on a WordPress site, so that people can click the “Music” button on the navigation menu, and go to it. I use Pages, not categories, for my nav bar. Is there a way to display songs for sale the way I am describing, using this plugin?
I have downloaded this plugin, but I have an issue that it keeps disabling my WordPress dashboard. After several trial and error investigations, I have discovered that this plugin (Easy Digital) and another plugin (Jetpack for WP) have a conflict. I am using Elegant Themes’ “Trim” theme.
Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.