The 'NOW' series of CDs has been somewhat legendary in the pop world, providing compilations of almost-current songs in affordable form. I should know, my family seems to possess quite a few. Even if (like me) what the compilation calls 'music' seems more like a guy yacking away over the top of a tuneless beat, there are often decent songs in there as well, don't worry. That's the beauty of having 40 or 50 tracks on a double CD - you'll still find an hour or more of stuff you really do like. And now the official application of the series has come to Windows Phone...

'Now' is certainly colourful, though it's very clearly a version 1 application, there are rough edges everywhere you look.

From the Store description though:

The official app from the UK’s longest running and biggest compilation brand NOW That’s What I Call Music is here! 

The only app you need to stay up-to-date with the latest pop and chart music, as well as discover the full NOW archive from the first NOW, the album that kicked it all off back in 1983 to the latest in the series NOW 86!

Check out the full tracklist for every NOW album ever released, plus preview, share and buy any track in the archive straight from Xbox Music. 

You can also check out the latest NOW Charts, including our weekly NOW Top 20 – our pick of the hottest tracks around right now.

Immerse yourself in the artist section to see which of your favourite artists have appeared on NOW albums. 

Plus if you want to tune into NOW Music TV on the go you can do straight from the app!

Here's NOW That’s What I Call Music in action:

A colourful/explosive start, opening to a set of tiles of recent NOW releases (Lord, please spare me from even having to hear Now That's What I Call Disney Princess!)....

Track listings of 'upcoming' NOW releases are available - except that these actually refer to CDs that have been out for several years.... Ahem. The NOW Top 20s are a nice idea, but sadly none of the tracks are hyperlinked or purchasable.

I did like the 'Archive' section, letting you browse NOW CD listings even going back to the very beginning - 30 YEARS ago! (right) you can also browse listings by artist.

There's a NOW music TV station it seems, available through the app, with appropriate channel ads, TV-style...

Thankfully most of the core NOW CD files lead to track listings which are hyperlinked, buying songs for 99p a time from Xbox Music; currently two 'Top 20's are available, though as these are presumably fully automated, there's no reason why more lists couldn't be suggested here.

However, rough edges abound. Set of 'mixes' of tracks are a nice idea, but in addition to not being linked, the artist names all show a database placeholder; (right) and more than once, I had 'not available' for tracks where there should have been buy links.

Hopefully the app can be polished in due course, but in the meantime download it from the Windows Phone Store here and see what you think.