Longplayer vs Marimba
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Longplayer
Experience a unique, ever-evolving musical composition designed to last 1000 years. This app provides real-time, high-quality playback without needing a data connection, allowing you to listen in the background while using other applications. It offers a real-time score display and detailed information about the composition's history and conceptual background.
- Real-time high-quality playback
- Offline playback
- Plays in the background
- Real-time score display
- Detailed information section
- Up-to-date news
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Longplayer: a thousand years of music in your pocket! Longplayer is a musical composition that has been playing since the beginning of the year 2000, and will play on, never repeating, until it reaches the point at which it first started, exactly 1000 years later. Longplayer is in effect an everlasting piece of music; its score mirrors a planetary system, six musical events whose orbits come into phase once a millennium. Until now, Longplayer has only been accessible by visiting a handful of "listening posts" or via an online stream. This app is the first standalone version of Longplayer, creating the music in real time based on the composition's thousand-year-long score. It requires no data connection and automatically synchronises itself with every other copy of the app across the globe. With this app, you become part of a community of listeners distributed through space and time, across many lifetimes. - real time high-quality playback of Longplayer, with no need for a data connection - plays in the background: listen to Longplayer while you continue to use other apps, and while your phone is locked. - real time score display - graphic and textual information explaining how it works - detailed information section about Longplayer's history, development, composition, conceptual background and much more - up-to-date news from the Longplayer website (data connection required) Recommended for headphones or external speakers. Watch a short video explaining Longplayer: http://vimeo.com/94166447 Longplayer was composed by Jem Finer and commissioned by Artangel in 1995. It is now in the care of the Longplayer Trust.
Marimba
This app offers a high-quality sampled marimba instrument for iOS devices. It functions as a standalone application or an AUv3 plugin, featuring adjustable keyboard settings and built-in effects like reverb and delay. It supports external MIDI input for enhanced musical expression.
- Standalone app and AUv3 plugin
- High-quality sample-based marimba
- Configurable keyboard
- Reverb and delay effects
- MIDI input support
- Mac support
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Marimba is a polyphonic sampled AUv3 instrument and standalone app for iPhone and iPad. It features a configurable keyboard, reverb and delay effects. It can be played using an external midi keyboard over Wifi or Bluetooth, or loaded in your favourite AUv3 compatible DAW, such as Garageband. Features • Standalone app and AUv3 • High quality sample based marimba instrument • Configurable keyboard key count • Reverb • Delay • Midi input support • Mac support System Requirements: iOS 15.0 or later
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Marimba at every 10 months against Longplayer's every 136 months. Marimba also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and price ($2.99 vs $3.99). Longplayer's advantage is ratings volume (11 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Longplayer costs $3.99 and Marimba $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Marimba holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Longplayer has 11 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Longplayer ships an update every 136 months, Marimba every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Longplayer | Marimba |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (11 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 136 months | Every 10 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 102 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Longplayer Trust | Mellowmuse Ltd |
Customer experience
Longplayer
Marimba
In-app purchases
Longplayer
No in-app purchases
Marimba
No in-app purchases









