This article is about WordPress plugins for managing downloadable content such as .zip files, pdf files, .psd files, etc., on a WordPress site. The plugins I’ve explored so far are Download-Manager, Download Monitor, and Marketpress. Download Monitor, and Marketpress is a shopping cart plugin but the first two are plugins developed specifically for managing downloadable content. They all have their strengths and weaknesses but none worked for my particular situation.

The Problem.

I have a network of WordPress sites running on a WP Multisite network. My problem is that I want to give away art and graphics for free on one of my network websites but managing the free content is proving to be really difficult. At first it was simple: Go into WordPress, add a new post, upload and attach media that can be downloaded by clicking. Other media, such as PDF files and .zip files would be uploaded to the server and linked to in a post. Not a big deal. Over time however, I’ve added lots of stuff and it’s getting harder to maintain.
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