The people below, and probably more above, this dont read or have common sense.
This is an actual magazine in digital form. Therefore, you WILL have to pay for a subscription, with several listed in the "Top In-App Purchases". The people leaving bad reviews are the people who dont read these things.
The reason the reader is free is to allow you to still have it and pick and choose which magazines you want, should you choose to buy them individually. So yes, you do need to pay some money for subscriptions or individual magazines, just like in real life.
Aside from that, this magazine is fantastic and teaches you so much about photography, its techniques and new technology and how to use it. Now excuse me while I go get a subscription. :)
Packwlf about Digital Photographer Monthly