Soundike - as regular mp3 downloads store - accepts all major
credit cards,
PayPal, and various other electronic debit methods. The catalog of 55,000+ albums contains plenty of billboard tracks and recent popular music and may be the best for many people, but might not have more obscure or less well known artists. If they have what you want, then they're a great bargain with prices starting at
$0.15 and going for as little as
$0.07 per track if you take advantage of the bonuses they offer.
Soundike has a nice interface - not too many distractions, simple navigation, and a simple search interface. While the search capability isn't particularly advanced, it is on par with the search interfaces used by many other music download services. After
signing up, you get
two free tracks to try out the site without needing to enter any credit card or payment information.
Payments at
Soundike are made using the payment processor SWREG, which means that they accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, Diners Club, Delta, Switch, Solo, JCB, and Paypal as well. They offer
bonuses starting at $30 - if you fill your account with $30 worth of credit, you get $30 free - which means you are paying only $0.075 per track (7.5 cents!). The same bonus applies to $50 and $100 values as well. This looks like a really good deal.
Downloads are fast with speeds between 350-500kB per second (on a DSL connection). There is no native downloader offered there, just the standard click-to-download web interface (which means if you use a 3rd party downloader, it will work fine for you).
The only negatives about this site are that it is not possible to tell how often new albums are being added, and the 'Top Charts' are seemingly out of date. I would hope that at least the issue with the charts would be fixed soon.
