Gramophone digital subscription - anyone have this?

[Retune]

I was just looking at the subscription options for Gramophone and the details about the digital issues seem remarkably vague. I understand I get access to the review database, the website, and the back issue archive if I subscribe to the 'Digital Club' for a year, but in what form are the '13 new digital editions' delivered? It would be nice if the issues covered by the dates of my subscription were just PDFs I could download and keep, even if my subscription lapsed, but I'm guessing they will be locked to the app and perhaps only viewable on a phone or tablet or maybe a web viewer? Does anyone know if they at least remain available to me online if I'm no longer a subscriber?

[Dave2002]

I was just looking at the subscription options for Gramophone and the details about the digital issues seem remarkably vague. I understand I get access to the review database, the website, and the back issue archive if I subscribe to the 'Digital Club' for a year, but in what form are the '13 new digital editions' delivered? It would be nice if the issues covered by the dates of my subscription were just PDFs I could download and keep, even if my subscription lapsed, but I'm guessing they will be locked to the app and perhaps only viewable on a phone or tablet or maybe a web viewer? Does anyone know if they at least remain available to me online if I'm no longer a subscriber?

I am no longer a subscriber of any form of Gramophone issues, but at one time Gramophone used to have CDs with samples of recent issues. Could it be that those are available in a digital library? Gramophone was different from BBC MM, in that the latter usually has complete works on the CDs supplied with the printed material, and some of the CDs are worth having. OTOH the former Gramophone CDs were very much sampler discs - presumably to be played once or twice, then discarded.

Regarding "printed" material I'd guess that you may be expected to download the files of anything you want to keep.

[Petrushka]

I am no longer a subscriber of any form of Gramophone issues, but at one time Gramophone used to have CDs with samples of recent issues. Could it be that those are available in a digital library? Gramophone was different from BBC MM, in that the latter usually has complete works on the CDs supplied with the printed material, and some of the CDs are worth having. OTOH the former Gramophone CDs were very much sampler discs - presumably to be played once or twice, then discarded.

Regarding "printed" material I'd guess that you may be expected to download the files of anything you want to keep.

Those sampler discs were years ago, mid 1990s I think, and didn't last long. The jewel cases, however, were very useful as replacements for those cracked or broken cases in one's own collection. The sampler disc usually went straight in the bin.

I did sign up for the digital subscription a few years ago but found that I never accessed the archived reviews so abandoned it and went back to the print copy.

[richardfinegold]

I get the combination digital and print subscription. Our postal service had at one point gotten terrible-it turned out that our local has been under investigation by the authorities-and I didn’t receive many print issues along with other magazines. And I can read it from a tablet when away from home., and yes have access to every review ever…
The problem is that they have not indexed the archive so if you want to look up something from yesteryear you need to know the exact issue
I have found it easier to search Google to find this material, frequently they have the entire review or article on line. Although it is interesting to locate the issue with Google, read it in the archive, and then read other material in the same issue.

[mikealdren]

I enjoyed the cover CDs and bought quite a few CDs from the samples that I might not have done otherwise.