NML vs Musical Passport
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NML
Access a vast library of classical music recordings with extensive metadata. Create personalized playlists and utilize study tools. Ideal for music enthusiasts and students seeking in-depth information.
- 2.73 million+ classical music tracks
- Rich metadata (composer bios, program notes)
- Customizable playlists
- Playlists created by educators
- Study tools and resources
- Latest releases from over 1000 labels
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Naxos Music Library (NML) offers over 2.73 million tracks of fine classical music recordings from more than a thousand labels with their latest releases. What sets NML apart from other streaming platforms comes down to metadata. Each piece of music comes with a rich set of information, from composers’ biographies to programme notes, instrumentation to publisher’s details, all authored by qualified musicologists. Individual subscribers and authorised users of institution subscribers can create their own playlists on top of having access to playlists created by their teachers and professors for their assignments. NML is more than just a huge classical music audio library available for streaming. The Resources section inside the library offers many valuable add-ons and study tools available through accessing the web version. Please send comments to customer.service@naxos.com to help us further improve our app.
Musical Passport
Explore global music scenes by country, genre, and era. Save your favorite tracks and revisit explored regions with your personal music passport. Discover new artists and sounds from around the world.
- Explore music by country
- Discover artists and genres
- Dive into genre spotlights
- Save favorite tracks locally
- Revisit explored countries
- Open third-party music links
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Musical Passport is a music discovery app for exploring the world through sound. Spin the globe, pick a country, and uncover artists, genres, and tracks that reflect local music scenes across regions and eras. Whether you're chasing a specific sound or just want to hear something new, Musical Passport helps you travel the world through music. Features: • Explore music by country • Discover artists, genres, and essential tracks • Dive into genre spotlights and era-based discovery • Save favorite tracks locally • Revisit countries you’ve explored with your personal music passport • Open supported third-party music links for listening and discovery Musical Passport is built for curious music lovers who want to go beyond the usual recommendations.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Musical Passport at 5.0 against NML's 3.0. Musical Passport also leads on monetization model (free vs subscription) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 months). NML's advantage is ratings volume (66 vs 4). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Musical Passport holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NML has 66 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.
NML ships an update every 2 months, Musical Passport every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NML | Musical Passport |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (66 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 39.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 66 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.3 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Naxos Digital Services Ltd. | Paul Bergeron |
Customer experience
NML
Musical Passport
Bugs and requests
NML
Reported bugs
16 issues- App crashes during playback or when switching apps
- Audio stops when screen goes to sleep
- Tracks cut off mid-movement or stop arbitrarily
- Login session expires too quickly despite 'remember me' option
- Cannot connect to internet via WiFi (requires VPN workaround)
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- Playlists disappear or fail to save
- Back button doesn't return to previous position in list
- Music pauses when notifications arrive
- App freezes or becomes unresponsive
- Search dialog has poor contrast making cursor invisible
- Saved playlists erased after updates
- Track information displays incorrectly during playback
- App cuts out at end of tracks when switching focus
- Shuffle button fails to function
- Hiccup at beginning of each track on iPadOS
- App only plays one track then stops
Requested features
15 requests- Dark mode support
- Interactive widgets
- Landscape orientation support for tablets/iPads
- Chromecast and AirPlay support
- Background music playback while using other apps
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- Track scrubbing/fast-forward capability
- Shuffle feature for favorites list
- Custom playlist and folder organization
- Ability to organize favorites into named categories
- Face recognition login
- Album-level saving instead of track-only playlists
- Better metadata display (composer, performer information)
- Retina display support
- iPad-specific app version
- Improved search with catalog number support
Musical Passport
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
NML
No in-app purchases
Musical Passport
No in-app purchases
