BBC Music Magazine User Reviews

Name: BBC Music Magazine
Rating: 4.3 (74 reviews)

BBC Music Magazine

Our Media Limited

🎵 Music

📰 Magazines & Newspapers

What users say

Summarized from real user reviews of BBC Music Magazine. Based on 74 reviews and a 4.3/5 average, it highlights the 6 positives and 12 negatives reviewers mention most about this Music app.

Positive things

📚Excellent magazine content and articles
🎵Integrated music samples and CD content
🔗Hyperlinked articles with web resources
📖Comprehensive classical music reviews
💡Educational and discovery-focused features
📱Access to back issues on device

Negative things

🐛Frequent app crashes and instability
🔄Poor redesign from magazine to web-like format
⏱️Extremely slow download times
🧭Difficult navigation and poor UI/UX
📵Inconsistent subscription access and authentication issues
🎵CD music doesn't play continuously or automatically
❌Missing accessibility features (dark mode, VoiceOver support)
🔐Inadequate customer support and communication
📱Compatibility issues with iOS updates
🔍No search functionality for articles
📄Text too small on mobile devices
🌐Regional restrictions (US access limitations)

Top reviews

Most Recent Highest Rated Lowest Rated

Customer service is completely MIA

Having a problem with the app because it does not recognize me as a subscriber. Tried to restore purchases, no luck. Try to log into my account online- fails, even with stored password. Try password reset, no email received. I finally try to just cancel because I don’t need the hassle. This magazine does not even appear in the drop down to select magazine. Complete frustration and customer service FAIL.

7/4 War Furor

2 years ago

Going downhill

This app used to be great but as usual someone had to ‘redesign’ it. (Read not any better, just different and worse than before) Don’t give me new and worse. Where are the links in the magazines, where is the music, where is any ‘ease of navigation’??? This it really terrible. The actual physical magazine and cd are fantastic and amazing. This is not.

MahatmaCainjeves

3 years ago

Response from developer

Thank you for getting in touch. Apologies you're having trouble using your App, if you would please get in touch via this form https://www.immediateapps.co.uk/digital-contact-form/ we will try and help you with this issue. Many thanks

Supporting even larger fonts…?

The maximum font size is still a bit small to presbyopic eyes.
Can you provide an option to enlarge screen fonts than given ones?
I had no problem with the old conventional magazine type editions since it could be enlarged as much as I can see, but with the newly introduced web-like editions, I feel tired to read them.
Other than that, I am enjoying the magazine.

plntz

4 years ago

Pity you can’t give minus scores!

I’m not a regular subscriber to the magazine but have used the app to download the magazine when the mood takes me. Last time was less than a year ago and the app worked perfectly.
Downloaded the October issue and paid £6.99.
Utter waste of time and money. Pages don’t load properly, pages don’t turn when swiped, crashes, in short utterly useless.
This appears to be a case of trying to fix something that was never broken in the first place and ending up with an app that is unusable.
Uninstalled and switching to another classical music mag.
Hope the Beeb are happy about losing revenue due to this truly appalling app.

Nails53

4 years ago

New(ish) format is awful

I just can’t put up with this any more. I much prefer the “magazine experience” way of reading any magazine (others I subscribe to continue to provide that alongside the newer format).

The ‘web’ like format might actually be bearable if it actually worked properly. I have a relatively new (2020) iPad Pro which I use to read 4 or 5 different magazines - only the BBC Music Magazine has such a flaky interface. Unable to scroll down some pages, skipping to next page for no good reason, doesn’t remember where in the magazine I have got to.

I’m sorry but unless there is a significant improvement (and a return to the magazine format) my subscription will be cancelled.

paulgarb

4 years ago

Loss of Digitised Print Version Disaapointing

It’s a great shame that this new version of the app gives a clunky web-style version of the magazine rather than a digitised print version. It’s not an enjoyable experience at all. An outstanding magazine but this app really lets the world-class content down.

MichaelAndrews89

4 years ago

Response from developer

Thank you for getting in touch. Apologies you're having trouble with your App. Please would you email us at appsupport@immediate.co.uk with details of where you made your purchase so we can see if we can help you with a better viewing experience. If you are able to include a screenshot and a subscription number with any further feedback that would be very helpful. Many thanks

New format

I really don’t like it at all. I find it very hard to navigate through it, and it’s nothing like reading the magazine. If I could go back to the old format, I would do so immediately.

Century House

4 years ago

Response from developer

Thanks for getting in touch, we really appreciate all feedback and we're sorry to hear you're unhappy with the new layout. We have introduced this new format as it is optimised for mobile devices with smaller screens and allows us to deliver more features like search, dark mode, and text-to-speech to make reading the magazine via the app a more interactive, stable and personalised experience. For more information on how to use these features head to our App Guide in the hamburger menu on the left hand side of the App. If you have any further feedback, please email us at appsupport@immediate.co.uk. Many thanks.

A shocking mess

I wanted to be fair before I cancelled my subscription as I gave loved the magazine on my IPad. So I looked at the ‘new’ redesigned version again. It’s truly ugly and a shocker. It looks like it was put together on an old Amstrad. How could someone have let this happen?

Notaprudebut

4 years ago

Response from developer

Thanks for getting in touch, we really appreciate all feedback and we're sorry to hear you're unhappy with the new layout. We have introduced this new format as it is optimised for mobile devices with smaller screens and allows us to deliver more features like search, dark mode, and text-to-speech to make reading the magazine via the app a more interactive, stable and personalised experience. If you have any further feedback, please email us at appsupport@immediate.co.uk. Many thanks.

Unhappy with the new format

As others have mentioned, the changes indeed really ruin the user experience. I recently switched to a digital sub and I’m disappointed that reading the issues feels much like scrolling through a clunky website. The app before wasn’t perfect, but I’m sure most readers would prefer a user experience similar to reading the physical magazine, as it used to be pre-change. Please consider reverting back to the more readable older version.

Mvykfkyf

4 years ago

Response from developer

We really appreciate all feedback and will be reviewing this with development to continue to deliver the best user experience. If you have any further feedback, please email us at appsupport@immediate.co.uk

Change not good

The latest update is poor in comparison to the previous version of the application: the interface provides more a series of individual and rather ‘clunky’ website-like pages rather than the excellent electronic but genuine magazine feel previously experienced.

As with the previous version of the app., the so-called ‘Cover CD’ is a misnomer as playback does not provide a CD experience: the tracks do not play one-after-the-other, as per a CD, they each need starting separately; and playback stops when the iPad goes into screen saver mode or if one accesses another page in the magazine.

Correcting this issue is, technically, simple to achieve.

I’ve noticed that the August 2021 and earlier editions in my library do, indeed, display in the previous and much better magazine format but, the so-called ‘Cover CD’ has disappeared from each of these earlier editions. This is a serious problem as all these ‘Cover CDs’ are supposedly included as part of my subscription payment and, therefore, should remain accessible contractually.

LJK - subscriber

mnbvcxLJK

4 years ago

Response from developer

Hi, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy with the new app and really appreciate all feedback. We can confirm we have received your email and will be in touch today. Many thanks.

Appalling update Feb/22

The updated version is a disaster. Slow download, bland design, you have to wait for pages to fill in, you have to scroll down to read pages as in a website. Oh for the old app! Thank god there’s still gramophone. Very sad about this. Rj759

rj759

4 years ago

Response from developer

We're sorry to hear you're disappointed with our App update. We really appreciate all feedback and will be reviewing this with development to continue to deliver the best user experience. If you have any further feedback, please email us at appsupport@immediate.co.uk

Very disappointed to lose Magazine copy

I’m afraid the loss of magazine design turns this from a pleasurable coherent read into nothing better than consulting one of many music websites. The essential essence of the magazine is lost. Similarly the presentation of the cover discs is now just the sort of random streaming you can do anywhere rather than a magazine article with associated content. There is nothing left now to justify a subscription. N

David Sw

4 years ago

Response from developer

Hi David, we're sorry to hear this. We really appreciate all feedback and will be reviewing this with development to continue to deliver the best user experience. If you have any further feedback, please email us at appsupport@immediate.co.uk

Great Magazine, Not so great Redesign

Loved loved loved the ability to read the magazine exactly like the print edition (but hyperlinked). This new design was not needed and severely detracts from the overall experience. Feel free to offer this as an option for those who want it, but please provide the classic experience for those who have enjoyed it that way for years.

d-a-j-o-k-r

4 years ago

Response from developer

Hi there, we’re sorry to hear you are unhappy with our new app. We have introduced this new format as it is optimised for mobile devices with smaller screens. The format also allows us to deliver more features like Search, Dark mode, and Text-to-Speech. We are always striving to deliver the best user experience so please email any feedback to us at appsupport@immediate.co.uk. Many thanks.

Content very good

Second update: All ok, new version delivered and working. Interface is quite different, more like a tabled edition and not a copy of the magazine, but good all the same. Back to 5 stars.

Update: February 2022. No digital magazine available? Last one delivered in December and I am fully subscribed. Zero help from anyone for the past 2 weeks, will reduce to 3 stars and put back up when I get a full response. A full cd worth or music is also in the digital app so it works out well worth the monthly sub, and saves on the paper No need anymore to buy the printed version.

embed-lidy

4 years ago

Response from developer

Hi there, we’re sorry for the delay of the February 2022 issue. We are working on getting this live as soon as possible, this should be over the next few days. Many thanks.

Very disappointing

No links to music app like Gramophone Magazine, can’t copy text to paste into Apple Music.

grwilson

4 years ago

Music gone again

Have had this subscription for years. This is the third time I can no longer access the CD music. Please fix. Very frustrating and disappointing.

frankmd54

5 years ago

Love BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

It’s arrival is always a cheering light in my day. Briefly forget the nation’s idiots.

Stanley Michigan

6 years ago

Utter rubbish

Cannot download issues cannot get support utter crap. Not run by BBC and constantly directly to Apple for any support question. Sadly have to rate this one star because it won’t let me rate it no stars pathetic

Pogerton