Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this page. This helps keep this site running
You want to put multiple MP3 songs (or multiple MP3 albums) into a cart from digital music at Amazon.com with the idea of adding more later so you can pay for them in one transaction at the end. This was possible in the past, but Amazon has made some changes since then, and now you can't purchase multiple items of music at once. But below are a few helpful suggestions for you that will make life just that little bit easier when you're shopping for multiple Amazon MP3 songs.
First off, to recap, you can still buy music by clicking on the button for that song or MP3 album as normal - if you're not sure how to do those things, see our separate illustrated tutorial here. You can still buy single songs on Amazon, the only downside is that you'd need to buy these one at a time instead of putting them in a cart. If you are buying 10 songs, this means you will have 10 transactions on your payment method, which is annoying. But it all still works fine and you don't come out any worse off money-wise than when they had the cart. It just takes longer now having to pay for each item separately.
At the moment, clicking on the button for a track or album just gives you the option to buy it (or to abandon it). You can't even favorite it, or do anything else that will let you come back to tracks you like. This is something I'm hoping Amazon will change in the future. For now, let's move on to some ways to streamline your digital music purchases on Amazon.
A word of warning for those buying a bunch of single songs
Please be aware that recent changes with Amazon's music store makes it all too easy to accidentally buy an entire album when really you might just be looking to buy a few individual songs from different albums. Don't worry - it is still easily possible to buy individual tracks. So if you're looking to buy one or more individual tracks, and not an entire album, take a look at our illustrated guide for how to buy MP3 music. In that guide, it shows with screenshots that you need to click on the 3 dots to the right of the track (this takes you to that individual track, not the whole album). As tempting as it is, do not click on "purchase options" at the top because that is only for the entire album.
Some suggestions for finding music you like on Amazon
There are some things you can do, besides the first steps of
- searching for specific tracks you like and
- making a list elsewhere of music tracks you want so you won't forget which ones to buy
Option 1: Shop by genre of music [see screenshot below]
One approach to finding the music you want is to take advantage of Amazon's ability to narrow down to a particular style of music, which allows you to browse for the genres of music you might like. Simply go to the Amazon digital music store and you'll see screen like the one below; click on the desired genre on the link on the left (circled):
This might be helpful for you if your goal was to make a playlist.
Option 2: Find new releases or best sellers at Amazon.com
Here is an approach you can try if you're looking for best sellers, new releases, and other items based on overall popularity. If your goal is to easily find the latest music, for example for a party, then that is your best bet. Firstly, go to Amazon digital music as in the example above, and then click on the big light blue box saying "new releases" or "bestsellers". You can also go to those on the left hand side menu (just above "browse by genre") if your screen doesn't look quite the same as mine in the image above.
If it's not giving you music (but instead books, etc), make sure you either
- use the link I gave in the previous sentence or
- make sure you've set the category to "Digital Music" on the left of your Amazon search bar
Next steps: from browsing to buying at Amazon.com
Regardless which way you browsed above, your screen will look something like this:
Click on the song you want and it'll take you to its purchase page on Amazon music. The page will have a dark theme, that's OK - it'll look something like this:
To safely buy the track or song, click on the 3 dots to the right of the song name, circled in red in the image above. Don't click on "Purchase Options" above, because I've found it's all too easy to accidentally buy an entire album that way instead of just the track or tune you wanted. If you click on the 3 dots to the right of the song name, you will be fine - it'll just be the single song or track.
Or course, if you want to buy the entire album then "Purchase options" is the way to go, but most people prefer just to buy a few different tracks.
Money-saving tip: Don't get tricked by the pricing - it can vary between MP3 and CD
You can buy digital music in 3 main formats on Amazon.com: Streaming, MP3, and CD. Some items are only available in 1 or 2 formats. In most cases, the MP3 is what you're going for, since you get to play it on different devices. However, Amazon doesn't always guess correctly which format you are most likely to want. Sometimes the price differs widely between CD and MP3 versions, so make sure you don't get tricked by buying the wrong format when you press the 3 dots. It'll show you the different options and the pricing so you will be fine.
I prefer buying in MP3 format since it gives me a downloadable track that I can then play on any device I like. I can put it on a USB stick and plug it into my car, for example. This way my favorite tunes are always available and it doesn't depend on my phone which might be low on battery so I don't want to use it to play music in the car, for example. But if you already use the Amazon Music App you may prefer to get your music through that instead.
So the take-home message is, be aware the format you're selecting and what price it is. Switch formats if needed before clicking buy. Double-check the pricing when you're ready to press buy - fortunately, the pricing is clearly shown.
To avoid this problem in the first place, begin your search via the digital music category on Amazon.com (not just by typing in the name of the song or artist in all categories). When you search the digital music category, it'll figure out you're most likely seeking an MP3 and it will almost always offer the MP3 format as the first option, not CD. But to be safe in case it doesn't, always make sure you check the format and the pricing before clicking on the buy button.
Conclusion
It's disappointing that Amazon.com has changed their system to eliminate the MP3 cart. If you like single tracks, you are therefore restricted to buying one track at a time in multiple transactions, instead of placing the desired music in an MP3 cart and doing checkout in one transaction. In this article I've given a couple of ways in which you can browse for tracks you might like without having to search for a specific song title, but it doesn't get around the problem of having no MP3 cart anymore. I'm hoping this is something that Amazon might decide to change in the future to make buying music on Amazon a bit easier.
Although this article is about how to buy multiple MP3 tracks, we also have a more in-depth illustrated tutorial for how to buy an MP3 track from Amazon so if you don't know how to begin, this is the one for you. If you have already purchased an MP3 from Amazon in the past and wish to download it again, don't worry, we have a tutorial for that too. Did you know you can also find your reviews on Amazon? This is worthwhile if you ever want to take a look at purchases you reviewed.