Marcos Tanaka makes the media apps that fill in the gaps left by Apple’s stock software. He calls his company Loop Apps.
There’s MusicHarbor, which makes sure you never miss new releases from your favorite artists. I’m a completionist. If my favorite bands — They Might Be Giants, AJR, Meghan Trainor, “Weird Al” Yankovic (yes, I contain multitudes) — release new songs, I want to know about it.
And frankly, I’m damn good at staying on top of new songs and albums from my favorites. But just in drafting this piece I learned about a new Barenaked Ladies single I’d missed. MusicHarbor is more than new singles and albums, though. The app — available for Mac and iOS — highlights new and upcoming music releases, music videos, interviews, concerts, and other artist news.
Play is another great app from Marcos — focused on organizing videos. You send videos to Play from whatever device you’re on — your Mac, your iPhone, whatever — organize them to your heart’s content with tags and stars and notes (including automated tagging)… And then the best part is, with the Apple TV (or Vision Pro) apps, you can watch your videos without using the frustrating navigational experience of the YouTube app or wrestling with AirPlay.
MusicSmart appeals to my aforementioned completionist tendencies. When I watch a movie, I check its Wikipedia page and IMDb trivia when it’s over. I look up facts about songs and artists I love, too. MusicSmart aims to aggregate liner notes and credits from multiple sources.
Marcos also makes MusicBox. It’s a lot like Play, but for music instead of videos.
Each of Marcos’s apps is free to download with some limited functionality, and in-app purchases to unlock everything with both lifetime and subscription options available.
All of the Loop Apps utilities have a common aesthetic and central focus: passion for going deep on your favorite music (and videos). Music obsessives probably didn’t get this far into my write-up; if you don’t own these apps and you love music, you’re likely already installing and configuring. If Marcos’s passions match yours, you’re in luck: The apps are thoughtful, well-designed, and fun to use.