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Helium Changelog

What's new in Helium 17.0.85.0

Feb 11, 2024
  • Major upgrades in Helium 17:
  • Album Details View: We introduce a game-changing way to explore your tracks. The Album Details view neatly organizes your music by albums, providing an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly experience.
  • Stunning Visualizations: Say goodbye to 32-bit visualization plugins and welcome a new, fully open, and programmable way to create hardware-accelerated visualizations that dance to your music. These visualizations even have their own fullscreen view and can be seamlessly embedded into the right sidebar. Crafting custom visualizations is now a breeze, and ShaderToy enthusiasts will feel right at home. (Thanks for Virgill for allowing us to use his fantastic shaders)
  • Seamless Spotify Integration: Import your favorite Spotify playlists into Helium 17, and let it work its magic by detecting matching tracks in your library. Customize the results as you see fit before creating the playlist. And, just as easily, export your Helium 17 playlists to Spotify.
  • Manage File Naming Templates: Handle Filename to Tag templates effortlessly from a new window. Add, remove, edit, and rearrange your templates as you need.
  • Shuffle Play Mode: Introducing a brand-new shuffle mode. Enjoy your tracks in a randomized order within the Play queue without altering the original sequence.
  • Explore with Ease: Navigate your tracks, albums, and artists seamlessly through the Explore context menu. Move effortlessly between Helium views or use Windows Explorer to find what you need.
  • Minor tweaks in Helium 17:
  • 64-bit Performance: Upgraded database drivers for top-notch 64-bit performance.
  • Custom Toolbar Colors: Choose from 21 custom toolbar colors instead of 7, offering even more personalization.
  • Smart Playlists: Use playlists as expressions when creating Smart playlists.
  • Audio Quality Control: When converting or ripping to WAVE format, fine-tune the bit-depth to your preference, either 16 bits or 32 bits.
  • Enhanced Compatibility: Numerous fixes for file and tag format compatibility issues.
  • Streamlined Plugins: A reworked iTunes, Discogs, and Spotify plugins ensure quicker execution and superior results.
  • Player Improvements: Revamped buttons in the bottom player for Visualizations, Auto-queue, Crossfade, Repeat Play queue, and Shuffle Play queue. The old Play queue button is now conveniently located under the View > Views menu.

New in Helium 16.5.18323.0 (Oct 18, 2023)

  • Key highlights:
  • Driver updates: We’ve revamped PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite drivers for seamless data management.
  • Updated visual components for a smoother experience.
  • Updates to the Discogs and the iTunes plugin.
  • We’ve fine-tuned playlist handling for optimal stability.
  • Various fixes in the rename files tool.
  • Fixes for renaming artists from various views.
  • Corrections for smart playlists containing the BPM field.
  • Experience a smoother simple search with various fixes.
  • The query builder now uses your current user rating for precision.
  • Overwriting settings in the filename to tag tool are now perfectly aligned and the tool stores the most recent used template.
  • Corrected refreshes in the genre view
  • Album overlays now update seamlessly when the release type changes.

New in Helium 16.4.18286.0 (Jul 17, 2023)

  • Possibility to embed the right sidebar tabs into the Play queue (if docked into the right sidebar). This feature will allow you to see both the Play queue and any of the now playing tabs at the same time.
  • Improved handling of possibly broken MPEG files. The File Analyser tool can now detect these files which are often caused by bad/long leading bytes.
  • Improvements to importing of data from Media Monkey.
  • Corrections to the CD-Ripper when requerying to rip anoter CD is invoked.
  • Performance issues and some new logic for Optimize database.
  • Component upgrades
  • Corrections to drag and drop of tracks within a tracklist where tracks could gets removed from the list.
  • Minor improvements when uding drag and drop from a track view to a playlist.
  • Various user interface fixes for Smart playlists
  • Optimizations when reading and updating files that are not in the library when working from the My computer view.
  • Some minor performance improvements to the query builder used by smart playlists and the advanced search.
  • Auto-calculate BPM is properly performed when using Apply to all in the Advanced tag editor.
  • Some minor improvements to the light theme (better contrast)
  • Improvements to reading of Ogg files.
  • Updated database drivers for SQLite, MySql and PostgreSQL.
  • Updated visual components.
  • Apart from the above major fixes, many minor things have been stabilized and optimized.

New in Helium 16.3.18267.0 (May 22, 2023)

  • Welcome to a new version of Helium 16 which comes with the following major changes:
  • New Tags column in tracklists which displays the tags a file contains
  • Possibility to control the BPM range when calculating BPM. This will give a more exact result and generally avoid halfed or doubled BPM values.
  • Select album window defaults to Entire library
  • Filter in select album windows is now case insensitive
  • Improvements when calculating an artists age
  • Album artist is properly used in the rename template preview in the CD ripper
  • A ripped CD will be auto ejected when the ripping is completed
  • It is possible to download tracks for a specific CD with the Discogs plugin by using cd:x where x is the disc you would like to download
  • Improvements to the information returned from the Discogs plugins
  • Smarter logic when calculating album artist when downloading tracks
  • Pictures are downloaded in background chunks to improve performance
  • Improvements to the iTunes plugin
  • System folders are hidden when iterating folders from the My computer view
  • Multiple fixes for the Advanced tag editor related to template editing and visual updates during tagging
  • It is possible to create a backup from the commandline
  • Database component upgrades
  • Component upgrades

New in Helium 16.2.18222.0 (Mar 26, 2023)

  • Updated PostgreSQL drivers
  • Updated MySQL drivers
  • Updated SQLite drives
  • Updated visual components
  • When using the Discogs plugin, it’s possible to find an album release by searching with barcode.
  • In the search query, enter “bc:” followed by the bardcode in the artist field to search using a specific barcode.
  • You can also search with catalog number by entering “cat:” followed by the catalog number in the artist field.
  • Possibility to download tracks using the CD ripper
  • Possibility to change the color on the playing waveform
  • Correction to the iTunes plugin so that it properly downloads pictures and artist information again
  • Corrections to the Remove tags action in the Action manager
  • Bug fix when stopping a subtrack from playback
  • Remap path for PostgreSQL works properly

New in Helium 16.1.18183.0 (Feb 6, 2023)

  • The major new changes are:
  • New charts feature
  • New graph, Top countries, available from statistics
  • Possibility to add custom paths in the My computer view
  • Created date column in the Mu computer view
  • Improvements for incorrectly tagged ID3v2 tags
  • Helium is now available with Finish language
  • Updated Czech translation
  • Updated components

New in Helium 16.1.18173.0 Beta (Jan 23, 2023)

  • New feature: Charts page available from statistics. The charts page offers both rolling charts and interval based charts for artists, albums and tracks.
  • New feature: Top countries with a detail page added to statistics
  • New feature: Possibility to add custom paths in the My Computer view, for example network paths
  • New feature: Create date column for file added in the My Computer view
  • New feature: Improved compatibility for catalog number not following the ID3v2 standards
  • Update: Czech translation
  • Update: Database components
  • Update: UI components
  • Bugfix: Track gain and album gain not properly added to the library
  • Bugfix: The default tag editor was not earlier used when working from Artist details
  • Bugfix: Default password for party mode could stop work in some situations
  • Bugfix: Sublabel could be incorrectly read in label details

New in Helium 16.0.18131.0 (Dec 8, 2022)

  • Support for PostgreSQL databases. PostgreSQL is an open-source database known for its stability and performance. Read more about it from here: https://www.postgresql.org/
  • The My Computer view is no longer limited to a flat list of files. It now comes with a folder tree as in Windows Explorer plus other new features and improvements.
  • Possibility to configure which fields that should be active in Tag Editor & CD Ripper’s album pane. It’s also possible to control the order of the fields as well as support for more fields has been added.
  • Highly redesigned and improved download pictures tools.
  • A general user-interface polish for better accessibility and smoother workflows.
  • Use the new party-mode option to ensure that nobody fiddles with your play queue during a party.
  • User variables are introduced which allows the end user to define a variable and a replacement for example %music% = “c:musicalbums” or %sh% = “abbrevation for artist”.
  • User variables are used as a post replacement pass when editing tags (if the capitalizer is active), for all tools that use the Tag to filename engine and for destination paths in the CD Ripper, Rename files tool and the converter tool.
  • The CD Ripper has been improved with template support for Save to folder and Filename format so that you can be sure to always use the standard formats you have designed. The tool will also present a live-updated preview of the resulting filename, and with the possibility to continue to rip another CD without the need of restarting the tool.
  • Multiple improvements has been introduced to template controls: Usage of mono-spaced fonts for better readability, new fields as well as auto-complete which will suggest options whilst writing a template.
  • Playlists and the playlists view has been improved with filters, created date per playlist and a timestamp when a specific song was added to a playlist.

New in Helium 16.0.18104.0 Beta 3 (Oct 24, 2022)

  • New feature: Created date for a playlist is stored and displayed per-playlist.
  • New feature: Added date for a track in a playlist is stored and displayed per track.
  • New feature: It’s possible to configure the maximum pictures the Discogs plugin can download (0 = no limit)
  • New feature: Possibility to cancel downloading of pictures in the Download picture tool.
  • Bugfix: Playlist order is now correct when new tracks are appended to a playlist.
  • Bugfix: The album pane dropdown contents will be properly updated in the CD ripper after ripping a CD.
  • Bugfix: Extract custom did not set artist properly in the CD ripper.
  • Bugfix: Closing the CD ripper showed an incorrect re-rip CD dialog.
  • Bugfix: Could not open a database with same name as the active database even if it was of a different type.
  • Bugfix: Default tag editor is properly opened for all album thumbnail views.
  • Bugfix: Some performance fixes in the CD ripper.
  • Bugfix: Better detection of suggested template variable names.

New in Helium 16.0.18100.0 Beta 2 (Oct 13, 2022)

  • User variables are introduced which allows the end user to define a variable and a replacement for example %music% = “c:musicalbums” or %sh% = “abbrevation for artist”.
  • User variables are used as a post replacement pass when editing tags (if the capitalizer is active), for all tools that use the Tag to filename engine and for destination paths in the CD-ripper, Rename files tool and the converter tool.
  • User variables can be configured from Options > Variables.
  • The Releases View comes with a new view format – detailed list. This format will let you browse your album in a format similar to a track list together with filtering and multi selection operations.
  • The CD-Ripper comes with support for auto-saving of previously used Save to folder templates and Filename format templates to easier reuse different and previously used templates.
  • The tool will also display a live-updated preview for the Save to folder and Filename format templates. If you type a part of a known code, for example {{a, Helium will display a dropdown with suggested codes together with a description so that you design your template better and quicker.
  • Mono-spaced fonts will be used by default in template editing controls for better readability (can be deactivated from Options).
  • Another small but useful feature that has been added to the CD-Ripper is the possibility to continue to rip another CD directly after a CD is ripped without restarting the tool.
  • It is possible to hide items in the view navigation bar. It is also possible to display the Active track view in the navigation bar.
  • A filter has been introduced to the Playlist and Smart Playlists view to quickly filter items by name
  • The track list in the Playlists view can now be filtered as other tracklists.
  • Title, artist and album in the Active track view now contains hyperlinks to quickly navigate to a specific view
  • When using auto-calculate BPM when playing a track, the resulting BPM is now stored into the Library and to Tags.
  • Custom sorting of the track list are preserved after tagging.
  • Various user interface fixes.
  • The Music Explorer nodes are properly refreshed after adding of files to the library.
  • When editing a Rename files template, the folders pane preview is properly refreshed.
  • The playlists view is properly restored after a restart if it was the active view when Helium was closed.
  • Better failover for WAV files with incorrect tags.
  • Corrections to the navigation bar.
  • Tracklist alternate row coloring fixes.

New in Helium 16.0.18089.0 Beta (Sep 22, 2022)

  • Major new features:
  • Support for PostgreSQL databases. PostgreSQL are free, easy to install, powerful and scalable as well as very performant.
  • The My Computer view is no longer limited to a specific files list,it now has a full tree to the left allowing much more flexibility when browsing files in and not in your library. It’s also possible to pin favourite folders to be able to access them more quickly.
  • The Music Explorer comes with support for new root-node types:
  • Tempo
  • Preference
  • My Computer – Including pinned favourite folders
  • Relations – Browse through an artists similar artists, related artists and all other relation types
  • Unavailable tracks
  • Possibility to configure which fields that should be active and the order of them in the Tag Editor and CD-Ripper album pane. Some new editing fields are also available.
  • Highly redesigned and improved download pictures tools (artist and albums). The tools are more effecient and easy to work with plus that they support new features such as saving selected pictures to tags.
  • New plugin: iTunes plugin with support for downloading of album images, artist images and artist information
  • A general user interface polish for better accessibility and smoother workflows
  • Options are better organized
  • Large parts of Heliums database access code was rewritten for this version which increased both performance and stability.
  • Use Helium for your parties and prevent that users mashes up your Play queue. Use the new Party mode feature to lock the Heliums tools and still allow users to browse the collection and queue tracks last in the play queue.
  • Support for up to 10 user defined columns.
  • Quickly browse similar artists and albums from the Music Explorer
  • Minor features:
  • Move tracks to album reintroduced, available from Track lists
  • You can configure if the graphic positionbar should be auto hidden unless a song is playing or is paused.
  • New user interface when selecting artists and albums from various tools
  • Import an existing library from MediaMonkey5
  • If an import fails, Helium will revert to a new clean database
  • Possibility to quickly select an artist using a powerful graphic user interface when editing artist relations.
  • Copy folder will execute in a background thread to avoid blocking Helium
  • Improvements to the Music Brainz plugin
  • Improvements to subtrack handling
  • A new script which will send the tracks currently shown to a printer

New in Helium 15.4.18050.0 (Jun 27, 2022)

  • Major news in Helium 15.4:
  • Powerful inplace tag editing in the track lists; the most features from the Tag Editor are directly available from the track lists, without the need of opening a Tag Editor.
  • Click here to read more about this feature.
  • Bits per sample added as a database field and a visual column.
  • Run action manager scripts directly from the menu/a toolbutton.
  • Multiple improvements to the re-rip tool.
  • New variables added to the Tag to filename tool.
  • Translation updates.
  • Improvements for reading several audio formats.
  • Possibility to paste pictures from clipboard in the Tag Editor and the Advanced Tag Editor.
  • It’s possible to select channel encoding mode for MP3 files.

New in Helium 15.4.18048.0 Beta 4 (Jun 20, 2022)

  • Run action manager scripts directly from the Automation menu or by adding a toolbutton.
  • Prompts when removing playlists
  • Upgrade database fixes for MSSQL and MySQL
  • Various bugfixes

New in Helium 15.4.18043.0 Beta 3 (Jun 12, 2022)

  • Renaming of files with F2 is reintroduced and improved
  • Setting to manually control playlist changes (Apply, Cancel)
  • Component upgrades
  • Sorting improvements in the Music Explorer
  • Improvements to refreshing of the file list in the My Computer view

New in Helium 15.4.18024.0 Beta 1 (May 11, 2022)

  • Helium 15.4 comes with many improvements on what Helium is best at – tagging!
  • Our focus has been to improve the tagging in track lists so that you do not need to open the tag editors if you only need quick and easy or batch tagging tools.
  • To edit tags from a tracklist, you can either click the rightmost cog icon and select Enable edit mode, select it from the context menu, Track list > Enable edit mode or by pressing Shift+F2.
  • When edit mode is enabled, you will see a toolbar below the tracklist with the following content:
  • A Tools button with mutiple available commands, more on that topic later.
  • A button which will toggle the Capitalizer/word replacer on/off
  • A button which will allow you to undo all changes and reload the original data for the tracks in the view.
  • A button that will apply the changes to the changed tracks.
  • Tagging works much as in the Tag Editor: Select a cell, press F2 or start to typ to change the contents.
  • Pressing delete will remove the contents for the selected cells, meaning that you can quickly remove unwanted content this way.
  • Some cells will have gray background to mark that they cannot be edited. Examples of such cells are typical read only values such as song length, bitrate and similar fields.
  • New batch tools available in the track list editors:
  • To make the tagging just as quick as in the Tag Editor, we have exposed the following batch tools:
  • Apply down, also available by pressing Ctrl+D
  • Auto-track, also available by pressing Ctrl+T
  • Multiple switch commands which will switch the content of the selected cells with the target cell.
  • Multiple extract commands which will extract one or more values from the selected cells.
  • Custom extraction command which will let you visually extract contents from the selected cells using a template.
  • A possibility to capitalize the selected cells using the capitalizer/word replacer logic.
  • A filename to tag feature which will allow you to extract one or more fields from the filenames of the selected cells.
  • Possibility to download track information on album level (based on selected tracks) for really quick tagging. For albums with multiple CDs, be sure to select the files for each CD for each download batch.
  • These batch tagging tools are available under the Tools button from the toolbar below the track list and from the context menu under Tagging tools.
  • Track list editing is available from the following views:
  • Music Explorer
  • Album details
  • Label details
  • Tracks
  • Genres
  • Years
  • My Computer
  • For the My Computer view, you do not need to have the files added to your library (but it will of course work with files in your library also)!
  • Note: It’s not possible to edit subtracks from the track lists. You will need to use the Subtrack editor for that.
  • Other changes in this version:
  • Bits per sample added as a database field. You can view this field in track lists, search on it as well as view it on album tool tips. It’s also when using scripts.
  • Multiple improvements for the Re-rip tool.
  • We have added support to download picture from the Advanced Tag Editor.
  • It’s possible to paste pictures from the clipboard in the Tag Editor and the Advanced Tag Editor.
  • Improvements to downloading of album pictures from the Album details view.
  • You can now save attached pictures from the Tag Editor and the Advanced Tag Editor.
  • It’s possible to copy the Album picture in the Tag Editor to the opened files tags.
  • An iterator variable is implemented in the Tag to filename tool.
  • A new variable, {{filenamenoext}}, has been added to the Tag to filename tool. This variable returns the filename of the file without path and extension.
  • Channels are displayed in File properties
  • It’s possible to select channel encoding mode when converting/encoding MP3 files.
  • Polish translation has been added.
  • Updated German translation.
  • Tooltips in the Music Explorer has been added to display truncated text better.
  • When ripping files, the album picture is properly copied and named using the naming rules.
  • Corrections to tool buttons in the CD ripper.
  • Improvements to reading of APE files.
  • Improvements to reading Ogg bitrate.
  • Improvements to Subtrack playback.
  • Helium’s version is included in backup filenames for a better overview.
  • BASS libs are updated.

New in Helium 15.3.17926.0 (Mar 7, 2022)

  • This version of Helium comes with all minor improvements and bugfixes which has been released since Helium 15.2 was officially released.
  • This version also comes with updated database drivers, rewritten database connectivity and stability handling, improvements to column auto-sizing, possibility to control database connections on a more detailed level and many other minor improvements.

New in Helium 15.3.17915.0 Beta (Feb 28, 2022)

  • Major changes in this version:
  • Rewritten database connectivity and improved transaction handling
  • Exposed more database settings
  • Improvements to column auto-sizing, a global setting is available for this.
  • Possibilities to filter extended logging
  • Improved shortcuts in the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Improvements to Remote API communication
  • Improvements and fixes for multiple artist mapping in the Releases view
  • Corrections to split file tool
  • Corrections to restore MySql and better progess
  • Various bugfixes and minor improvements

New in Helium 15.2.17881.0 (Feb 7, 2022)

  • Improved error handling in the File synchronization tool
  • Improvements to WavPack reading
  • Rename tool invokes album handling when needed
  • Corrections to database upgrading
  • Corrections to Genre style management
  • Updated database drivers
  • Retry failover for MySql when a connection is lost from the server
  • Update user defined fields after a rename operation
  • Auto-size columns improvements
  • Rearranged the Play queue context menu
  • Auto-size columns are saved between sessions
  • Various Quick tag editor fixes
  • Improvements to import playlists
  • Artist shown in mini-player
  • Corrections to max lyrics lengths during adding
  • UI fixes for the Convert to tool
  • UI fixed for the Advanced search tool
  • Possibility to export multiple playlists from the Playlists view
  • Possibility to select multple playlists in the File synchronization tool
  • Improvements to album handling
  • Possibility to logout (reauthorize) to Last.fm
  • Setting for disabling Windows overlay
  • Possibility to set WASAPI period
  • Smart play available from the player
  • Multiple elements in the player can be hidden by the user

New in Helium 15.2.17859.0 (Jan 18, 2022)

  • Possibility to show user defined columns in the Tag Editor
  • ID3v1 is saved as ISO-8859-1
  • Improvements for fetching of Smart playlist tracks
  • New field in tag to filename engine, RATING_INTEGER
  • Updated database drivers
  • Updated UI components
  • Multiple improvements to the File-sync device, updated MTP-drivers.
  • Improved error handling for picture management and adding files to the library.
  • Artists with relations are not removed when optimizing library
  • Prevent duplicate genres when updating library
  • Optimize library can remap and remove duplicate genres
  • Many minor improvements and bug-fixes

New in Helium 15.1.17826.0 (Oct 24, 2021)

  • This version also comes with updated database drivers, possibility to deactivate elements in the Now playing page and many other minor improvements.

New in Helium 15.0.17805.0 (Aug 30, 2021)

  • Possibility to open Playlists in new windows which floats on top of the application. Opened Playlists will remain visible during view changes and allows drag and drop from other views to queue up tracks as well as drag and drop between playlists.
  • Reorganized main and context menus for a more optimized workflow. Menus are now much more logical in their order and what names that are being used on menu items.
  • Active track view (available from the visualizations menu), a new “fullscreen” view that shows rotating (optional) album and artist art with controllable speed plus lyrics for the track currently playing
  • Changed MariaDB/MySql database providers for better performance and stability.
  • Multiple improvements to the CD Ripper.
  • The Biography tab for the playing track contains artist and album image, linked artist information and editing shortcuts.
  • Rewritten Helium Remote and Streamer apps with multiple improvements.
  • Big improvements to the Optimize library feature:
  • Possibility to select which database optimization steps to be performed. This can greatly speed up the optimization on large databases, if you only wish to run certain optimizations.
  • A new optimization step that will remove all unused artists in the database. Unused artists can be left in the database either if they have previously been in the database but has been removed, or if an incorrectly names artist have been renamed (the old incorrectly named artist may still be there in that case). Some of these problems have only arised for users who have used Helium for a long period of time, through many different releases.
  • For long-time users of Helium, running a full library optimization can now greatly improve the stability and speed of the program since unused data can be removed while the actual database files are also optimized for best performance

New in Helium 15.0.17757.0 Beta 4 (Jun 18, 2021)

  • New feature: Open playlists in new windows, available from the Playlists view and the Music Explorer view
  • When a playlist is opened in a new window, it will remain visible during view changes It’s possibile to drag and drop tracks between playlists as well as from other lists
  • Improved reading for FLAC files with seektables
  • Possibility to toggle visibility for Quick mood and drop to default playlist in the player pane (Default hidden)
  • Possibility to repeat the Play queue This can be activated by clicking a new button in the player
  • Removed dependency for Mysqldump when taking a MySql backup
  • Bugfixes for advanced searches using Last played
  • Smart playlists can be shared between users (from the context menu)
  • Upgraded UI components
  • Various bugfixes

New in Helium 15.0.17747.0 Beta 3 (Jun 8, 2021)

  • Extended content in the Biography pane. Artist picture and details are shown (if available)
  • More years available from the playing trends
  • Improved compatibility for rating tag-frames for Vorbis tags (Ogg Vorbis and FLAC)
  • Various improvements for artist editing tool
  • Improved formatting in plug-ins
  • Various fixes for issues found in prior beta versions

New in Helium 15.0.17737.0 Beta 2 (May 27, 2021)

  • It is possible to disable one or more download plug-ins.
  • It’s possible to play a song in repeat mode. Can be activated from the players context menu.
  • Last.fm can be enabled/disabled from the players context menu.
  • Mini-player general plugin updated with artist information.
  • Correted and activated migration from Helium 14.
  • Possibility to show existing MySql databases in Open MySql database window.
  • Possibility to use album subtitle and release year for naming of album pictures.
  • Corrected leaking of connections.
  • Corrections in the backup tool.
  • Sort order fixes related to views.
  • Updated UI components.
  • Various minor fixes and improvements.

New in Helium 15.0.17730.0 Beta 1 (May 18, 2021)

  • Major changes in this release:
  • Changed MySql/MariaDb database providers for better performance and stability.
  • This is a major change which affects everything that relates to MySql/MariaDb in Helium.
  • New API framework for the Helium Remote apps with better stability and performance
  • Re-rip: A tool which helps you to re-rip your CDs (note that this tool is still under active development)
  • The Helium Remote apps for iOS and Android are rewritten to use an improved realtime update system to be much more responsive
  • Updates to various user-interface components
  • Possibility to import iTunes libraries
  • Multiple new methods and properties available for scripts
  • Multiple new fields available in Action manager commands
  • Possibility to analyse and view properties for the active file in the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Possibility to use external tools for the active file in the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Possibility to disable rich-text editing in biography and lyrics fields
  • Setting to ignore default grouping of multiple CD albums
  • Setting which allows reading of TPE2 ID3v2 fields for album artist (external compatibility)
  • Support for more fields in download plugins

New in Helium 14.9.16670.0 (Feb 10, 2021)

  • This versions comes with corrections for audio playback buffering, tag-compatibility handling and other corrections.

New in Helium 14.8.16503.0 (Sep 25, 2020)

  • Support for month/day in year fields.
  • BPM fields supports decimals by default, both for tags and in the database.
  • The CD Ripper now downloads release and track information again.
  • Since freedb discontinued their service earlier this year we have been working on getting a good replacement in place.
  • Support for long-paths which will allow you to have filenames longer than 260 characters. Please note that this feature needs to be activated in Windows 10. Click here for more information.
  • Switch custom fields using templates in the Tag editor.
  • Play, enqueue next and enqueue last available from Music Explorer context menus
  • It is now possible to delete pictures in AIFF files with the tag editors.
  • Possibility to extract featured artist in the Tag editor.
  • Possibility to auto calculate BPM in the Advanced Tag Editor.
  • Support for playing files from Windows Explorer when Helium is running.
  • Space will toggle play/pause in the main window (when no other control is focused).
  • Various improvements to filtering in the track lists.
  • Improvements to multiple CD handling when adding albums with multiple CDs to the library.
  • Play queue will be auto-populated when auto enqueue is activated.
  • Formatting is kept when downloading lyrics.
  • When a template is edited in the Advanced Tag Editor, data is not cleared.
  • Improved tag reading compatibility.

New in Helium 14.8.16479.0 Beta 2 (Aug 27, 2020)

  • The CD Ripper now downloads release and track information again.
  • Since freedb discontinued their service earlier this year we have been working on getting a good replacement in place. We are happy to say that this beta release contains a first version of this. Disc information is now downloaded from the MusicBrainz database which have lots of information available. We hope that this new plug-in will work well for the vast majority of users. Please let us know if there are any issues or something that we can improve on.
  • Improvements to multiple CD handling when adding albums with multiple CDs to the library.
  • Corrected issues with creating new databases.
  • Improved refresh handling in multiple views when downloading pictures.
  • Component upgrades.

New in Helium 14.8.16477.0 Beta 2 (Aug 15, 2020)

  • Some major changes are listed below:
  • The CD Ripper now downloads release and track information again.
  • Since freedb discontinued their service earlier this year we have been working on getting a good replacement in place. We are happy to say that this beta release contains a first version of this. Disc information is now downloaded from the MusicBrainz database which have lots of information available. We hope that this new plug-in will work well for the vast majority of users. Please let us know if there are any issues or something that we can improve on.
  • Improvements to multiple CD handling when adding albums with multiple CDs to the library.
  • Corrected issues with creating new databases.
  • Improved refresh handling in multiple views when downloading pictures.
  • Component upgrades.

New in Helium 14.7.16469.0 Beta 1 (Aug 7, 2020)

  • It is now possible to delete pictures in AIFF files with the tag editors.
  • When a template is edited in the Advanced Tag Editor, data is not cleared.
  • Various improvements to filtering in the track lists.
  • Support for long-paths which will allow you to have filenames longer than 260 characters. Please note that this feature needs to be activated in Windows 10. Click here for more information.
  • BPM fields supports decimals by default, both for tags and in the database.
  • Support for month/day in year fields.
  • Switch custom fields using templates in the Tag editor.
  • Space will toggle play/pause in the main window (when no other control is focused).
  • Support for playing files from Windows Explorer when Helium is running.
  • Possibility to extract featured artist in the Tag editor.
  • Corrected invoking of actions from artist and album hover buttons.
  • Formatting is kept when downloading lyrics.
  • Possibility to auto calculate BPM in the Advanced Tag Editor.
  • Play queue will be auto-populated when auto enqueue is activated.
  • Play, enqueue next and enqueue last available from Music Explorer context menus
  • Improved tag reading compatibility.

New in Helium 14.7.16433.0 (Jun 23, 2020)

  • Updated SQLite database drivers
  • Support for multi-column sorting in track lists, including a visual indicator. Hold down shift when clicking an extra column to sort on to activate multi-sorting.
  • Corrected writing of FLAC files containing seektables when removing attached pictures.
  • Disk-space warning now shows up as a Do-not-show-again dialog.
  • Migrate from Helium 13 message does not show up unless Helium 13 actually exists on the machine.
  • Drag and drop folders to Add to files window now works again
  • Navigate back from artist details to artists works properly
  • Enqueue and play shortcut works properly in track lists
  • Tagging form Entire library properly refreshes the tracklist afterwards

New in Helium 14.7.16429.0 (Jun 12, 2020)

  • Issues with pasting formatted text into Lyrics and Biography controls.
  • Incorrect adjustment of track list in My computer view
  • Better ID3 v2.2 compatibility
  • Other minor fixes fonud via application exception logs.

New in Helium 14.7.16426.0 (Jun 8, 2020)

  • MusicBrainz data is used in the CD-Ripper.
  • Type-to-find implemented in Select columns dialogs, allowing quicker locating of specific columns/fields.
  • The years view displays both release years and recording years.
  • Improvements to image cache handling which will boost startup time.
  • More editable fields in the Tag editors right-panel, copyright and custom fields.
  • Possibility to not save ID3v1 tags when tagging files.
  • Multiple improvements to Database optimization.
  • Updated database drivers (SQLite and MySQL)
  • Improved reading compatibility for AAC and WavPack files.
  • Improvements to ID3v2 reading compatibility.
  • Type-to-find implemented in Music Explorer tree

New in Helium 14.7.16425.0 Beta 3 (May 16, 2020)

  • Major changes in this version:
  • Updated MySql drivers
  • Updated SQLite drivers
  • Updated UI components
  • Improved reading of AAC files
  • Improved reading of WavPack files
  • Improved compatibility in ID3v2 tag reading
  • Type-to-search feature in the Music Explorer tree
  • Improvements to importing of Playlists
  • Better cleanup when tagging Lyrics

New in Helium 14.7.16417.0 Beta 2 (May 4, 2020)

  • Major changes worth to mention:
  • Deleting items from a playlist will delete them from the playlist only.
  • Artist sort order is no longer overwritten with data form multiple artists.
  • Track number is shown in Copy tags feature.

New in Helium 14.7.16406.0 Beta 1 (Apr 20, 2020)

  • MusicBrainz data is used for the CD ripper
  • Better handling of errorous files during adding
  • Corrections to tag editor where “Apply down” did not work properly
  • Several improvements to caching of images. Startup time will be quicker for most users
  • Possibility to not save ID3v1 during tagging
  • Multiple improvements to database optimization
  • Updates to the plug-in engine

New in Helium 14.6.16364.0 (Mar 15, 2020)

  • Quick access to several tools when hovering albums, artists and labels. Additional icons will be shown when hovering allowing you to change picture, edit tag/information, download pictures and add items to the play queue.
  • Possibility to always open album folder when updating album pictures instead of the album pictures folder.
  • Plugin support for rating and popularity fields.
  • Improved type-to-find support for album view, especially in the split-view mode.
  • Updated database drivers.
  • Bug corrections and more improvements to Optimize database.
  • Statistics fixes for albums.

New in Helium 14.5.16352.0 (Feb 24, 2020)

  • FileSize and Songlength available as Tag to filename fields
  • The ID3v2 tag setting “Save album artist with full external compatibility” will now only affect formats using ID3v2
  • Possibility to add single tracks in the Splitter tool
  • Playing position shown in splitters wave form
  • Custom 9 content field in Tag editors displays and stores proper content
  • Bug fixing for multiple artists in combination with Apply functions in the Tag editor
  • Improvements to Open Database dialog for SQL Server. It’s easier to connect to an existing database as you are now able to list the available databases on the selected server.
  • Improvements to Optimize database feature. Optimizing your database helps to fix many known problems from old versions of Helium. If you have been using Helium for a long time this feature is recommended to be run.
  • Various component upgrades

New in Helium 14.4.16341.0 (Feb 4, 2020)

  • Database driver updates
  • UI controls updates
  • Improvemets to rating handling
  • Bugfix related to filtering in the Duplicate finder
  • Improvements to picture handling
  • Other minor improvements and bug fixes

New in Helium 14.4.16323.0 (Jan 2, 2020)

  • The main changes in Helium 14.4 are:
  • Rewritten WMA tagging engine
  • Highly improved Ogg Vorbis reading and tagging engine with support for segmented Ogg vorbis files and picture tagging
  • Multiple improvements to the Action manager
  • Run scripts
  • Calculate gain
  • Rename files
  • Performance improvements
  • Various keyboard shortcuts improvements in tools

New in Helium 14.4.16306.0 Beta (Nov 24, 2019)

  • The main goal with this update is to introduce some major changes to our tag-engine:
  • Fully changed WMA handling. This applies both to reading of audio properties and tags and writing of tags.
  • Fully changed OggVorbis handling. OggVorbis now supports:
  • Segmented Ogg-files
  • Opus-files
  • Picture support when tagging

New in Helium 14.3.16261.0 Beta (Nov 19, 2019)

  • This version comes with the following major changes:
  • Copyright column introduced in track lists
  • It is now possible to configure which specific field-names (one or more) that should be mapped to a specific Vorbis field when reading data. This can be used to increase read-compatibility with other applications.
  • Improved default Vorbis mappings
  • Vorbis total tracks and total discs is not written if empty
  • Improved tab support in the Tag editor

New in Helium 14.3.162740 (Nov 11, 2019)

  • A new version of Helium 14.3 is now available. This version contains mostly bug fixes, minor improvements and driver updates.
  • Several improvements have been made to the thumbnail image cache. This might result in a longer startup the first time Helium 14.3 is started since the images might need to be recached.

New in Helium 14.3.16267.0 (Oct 25, 2019)

  • A new version of Helium 14.3 is now available. This version contains mostly bug fixes, minor improvements and driver updates.
  • Several improvements have been made to the thumbnail image cache. This might result in a longer startup the first time Helium 14.3 is started since the images might need to be recached.

New in Helium 14.3.16262.0 (Oct 14, 2019)

  • Copyright column introduced in track lists
  • It is now possible to configure which specific field-names (one or more) that should be mapped to a specific Vorbis field when reading data. This can be used to increase read-compatibility with other applications.
  • Improved default Vorbis mappings
  • Vorbis total tracks and total discs is not written if empty
  • Improved tab support in the Tag editor
  • Possibility to configure which fields that shall be included for finding track results when using the simple search. Select which fields to include/exclude directly from the new context-menu which opens when clicking the magnifier icon in the simple search.
  • Smarter and quicker handling of cached thumbnails. Each library will have its own cache to speed up loading and manage conflicts better.
  • Improvements to touch handling when working with touch screens
  • The select playlist dialog comes with full folder support
  • Multiple improvements to multiselections in the releases view used when deleting , tagging and queueing releases
  • Drag and drop support for drag and move a playlist to a folder in the Playlists view
  • Drag and drop a playlist directly to the Play queue to queue it
  • Left Navigation bar width is stored between sessions
  • Adding skips Opus files identified as Vorbis files, instead of crashing
  • Component updates, giving better performance in grouped views
  • ID3v2 tag compatibility improvements
  • Database driver updates
  • Minor improvements to the installer

New in Helium 14.3.16256.0 Beta (Sep 29, 2019)

  • Possibility to configure which fields that shall be included for finding track results when using the simple search. Select which fields to include/exclude directly from the new context-menu which opens when clicking the magnifier icon in the simple search.
  • Smarter and quicker handling of cached thumbnails. Each library will have its own cache to speed up loading and manage conflicts better.
  • Improvements to touch handling when working with touch screens
  • The select playlist dialog comes with full folder support
  • Multiple improvements to multiselections in the releases view used when deleting , tagging and queueing releases
  • Drag and drop support for drag and move a playlist to a folder in the Playlists view
  • Drag and drop a playlist directly to the Play queue to queue it
  • Left Navigation bar width is stored between sessions
  • Adding skips Opus files identified as Vorbis files, instead of crashing
  • Component updates, giving better performance in grouped views
  • ID3v2 tag compatibility improvements
  • Database driver updates
  • Minor improvements to the installer

New in Helium 14.2 Build 16234.0 (Aug 21, 2019)

  • The major focus with Helium 14.2 has been to remove the case dependency for MySql/MariaDb to make it easier to use Helium on NAS drives using Unix variants as their host operating systems.
  • Another big focus has also been to improve customizing and user experience where we have implemented several improvements requested by our end users.
  • Please note that this Helium version will upgrade your library. Therefore, we recommend you to take a backup of your library before installing this version. Helium Streamer users will also need to update to the most recent version to be able to work with the updated library.

New in Helium 14.2 Build 16228.0 Beta (Aug 13, 2019)

  • Improvements for randomizing smart playlist contents
  • Improvements to adding of album pictures (logic)
  • Font scaling corrections in Waveforms
  • Corrections when importing ratings from libraries
  • Possibility to set template based fiilename formats in the CD-Ripper
  • Improvements to keyboard handling in Tag editors
  • Improvements to tracklist filters
  • Possibility to disable hyperlinks in track lists
  • Various bug fixes

New in Helium 14.2 Build 16217.0 Beta (Jul 29, 2019)

  • This version comes with the following major updates:
  • New SQLite drivers
  • Corrections when adding music
  • Improvements to ID3 tag reading
  • Improvements in Tag editors for auto-set sort order
  • Equalizer presets are properly read
  • Picture update fixes

New in Helium 14.2 Build 16214.0 Beta (Jul 19, 2019)

  • Improved read support for legacy ID3v2.2 tags (often used from iTunes). The main ID3v2.2 tags shall now be properly read and usable in Helium.
  • Improved support for MediaMonkey ratings which uses another range compared to the standards.
  • Threading improvements and progress improvements in the Joiner tool
  • Various component upgrades

New in Helium 14.1 Build 16177.0 (Jul 9, 2019)

  • Support for adding, tagging, playing and converting AIFF files. The AIFF support is seamless in Helium meaning that it will behave just like any other supported formats.
  • Waveform view in the Splitter tool which allows a more visual and precise method to adjust start and end offsets for a track that shall be splittered.
  • Updated SQLite and MySQL database drivers.
  • Improvements when loading actions in the Action manager.
  • Sorting improvements in Album details
  • Possibility to update original fields via scriping
  • Translation updates

New in Helium 14.1 Build 16155.0 Beta (May 16, 2019)

  • Possibility to sort on the filename column in the Tag Editor
  • Catalog number can be edited in tracklists direct editing mode
  • It is possible to edit drop-down contents for comments
  • Updates to file/folder dialogs
  • New datbase providers for SQLite and SQLServer
  • User interface enhancements
  • Improvements to AIFF handling
  • Bug fixes when editing label pictures
  • Bug fixes when adding files with multiple ratings

New in Helium 14.1 Build 16146.0 Beta (May 1, 2019)

  • Support for adding, tagging, playing and converting AIFF files. The AIFF support is seamless in Helium meaning that it will behave just like any other supported formats.
  • Waveform view in the Splitter tool which allows a more visual and precise method to adjust start and end offsets for a track that shall be splittered.
  • Updated SQLite and MySQL database drivers.
  • Improvements when loading actions in the Action manager.
  • Sorting improvements in Album details
  • Possibility to update original fields via scriping
  • Translation updates

New in Helium 14.0 Build 16136.0 (Apr 19, 2019)

  • Corrections to MySql backup. Due to recent driver changes the previously used backup tool stopped to work. The new solution is using the native mysqldump.exe file which needs to be located when the tool is started the first time. mysqldump is shipped with MariaDB and MySql and is generally located in the applications <bin> folder.
  • Updated SQLite providers
  • Improved housekeeping of orphaned artists
  • Possibility to disable tooltips for album/artists items
  • Corrections to the rename tools tree preview
  • Minor improvements to migrations of Helium 13->14
  • Corrected displaying of releasetypes overlays for albums
  • Minor improvements to editing of artists
  • Filter fixes for Albums, Artists and Labels views
  • Various corrections to caching of album images

New in Helium 14.0 Build 16122.0 (Apr 11, 2019)

  • Multiple album artists – a unique feature that allows tagging of one or more album artists per release
  • Web radio channel support – manage and play webradio channels in this new Music Eplorer view
  • Column filters in track lists – a quicker way to filter contents in track lists
  • Preview tree in the Rename tool – allows you to see the resulting folder and filename structure before renaming
  • Support for eternal applications – easy integration with all tools you need
  • User interface improvements – multiple changes in the user interface to make Helium more pleasant to work with plus more customization possibilities

New in Helium 14.0.16106.0 Beta 4 (Mar 22, 2019)

  • Improvements to the installer/uninstaller. All data is now properly removed when uninstalling Helium.
  • Possibility to customize Music Explorer nodes via the context menu.
  • Improvements to database connecting/handling and upgrading.
  • Various UI improvements. Pitch control is default hidden in the player, cleanup in genre view and undefined release type is hidden for albums.
  • Changes for default settings.
  • Restructured context menus for tracks and albums.
  • Improvements to importing of Helium 13 databases.
  • Setting for clearing the Play queue when playing music.

New in Helium 14.0.16066.0 Beta 3 (Mar 13, 2019)

  • This version comes with the possibility to choose if ID3v2 tags shall be saved as Unicode or UTF-8 as well as corrections and improvements to the Rename tool.
  • Some other minor bugs and improvements are also included as well as some new columns in the My Computer view.

New in Helium 14.0.16054.0 Beta 2 (Mar 4, 2019)

  • Multiple album artists – This is one of the most requested and unique features introduced in Helium 14. Multiple album artists allows you to tag albums with more than one artists – ideal for compilations created by more than one artist, covers albums and similar releases. Each artist that appears as an album artist will be browsable and the release will show up on all involved artists discographies. Best of all – you can concentrate on the tagging, Helium will perform the extraction of multiple album artists for you.
  • Web radio channels – Helium 14 comes with a new Web radio channel view available from the Music Explorer. Basic stream formats as well as ShoutCast, ICE-cast and http live streaming (HLS) are supported.
  • Column-filters in track lists – You can optionally select to display a filter for each column in the track lists. Click the filter icon to apply a simple or more complex, expression based filter. Multiple filters can be active at the same time.
  • Preview tree in the Rename tool – To get a better visual overview of the rename result you can now toggle between a preview tree and a plain file list.
  • UI improvements – Action buttons comes with a more distinct look, some views are less cluttered due to removed borders, new and powerful file/folder dialogs and last but not least – it is possible to use smaller icons in the navigation bar to gain a couple of more pixles in width. Other UI improvements includes customizable colours for the toolbar buttons.
  • External applications – It is now possible to configure and run external applications on selected files directly from the context menu. External applications accepts various input parameter and starting modes.
  • The CD ripper comes with a slightly improved interface, better handling for CD’s with lead-out data and template support for the generated folders/filenames.
  • The Subtrack Editor comes with support for working with offsets for easier and quicker tagging. Enter the start offset and end offset for each song and the duration will be automatically calculated.
  • The Select columns dialog supports drag and moving of columns for quicker rearranging of columns.
  • The Player supports higher precision and more accurate skipping with the normal position bar. It also comes with updated drivers.
  • The Advanced Tag Editor comes with a new template control, File info. This control will display information about the current file and more.

New in Helium 14.0.16033.0 Beta 1 (Feb 22, 2019)

  • Major new features and improvements:
  • Multiple album artists:
  • This is one of the most requested and unique features introduced in Helium 14. Multiple album artists allows you to tag albums with more than one artists – ideal for compilations created by more than one artist, covers albums and similar releases. Each artist that appears as an album artist will be browsable and the release will show up on all involved artists discographies. Best of all – you can concentrate on the tagging, Helium will perform the extraction of multiple album artists for you.
  • Web radio channels:
  • Helium 14 comes with a new Web radio channel view available from the Music Explorer. Basic stream formats as well as ShoutCast, ICE-cast and http live streaming (HLS) are supported.
  • Column-filters in track lists:
  • You can optionally select to display a filter for each column in the track lists. Click the filter icon to apply a simple or more complex, expression based filter. Multiple filters can be active at the same time.
  • Preview tree in the Rename tool:
  • To get a better visual overview of the rename result you can now toggle between a preview tree and a plain file list.
  • UI improvements:
  • Action buttons comes with a more distinct look, some views are less cluttered due to removed borders, new and powerful file/folder dialogs and last but not least – it is possible to use smaller icons in the navigation bar to gain a couple of more pixles in width. Other UI improvements includes customizable colours for the toolbar buttons.
  • External applications:
  • It is now possible to configure and run external applications on selected files directly from the context menu. External applications accepts various input parameter and starting modes.
  • The CD ripper comes with a slightly improved interface, better handling for CD’s with lead-out data and template support for the generated folders/filenames.
  • The Subtrack Editor comes with support for working with offsets for easier and quicker tagging. Enter the start offset and end offset for each song and the duration will be automatically calculated.
  • The Select columns dialog supports drag and moving of columns for quicker rearranging of columns.
  • The Player supports higher precision and more accurate skipping with the normal position bar. It also comes with updated drivers.
  • Revised plug-in engine which supports more and new datatypes as well a generic Id handling (track ids, artist ids and release ids)
  • A new translation system where languages are loaded from disk instead of being compiled into the application. This offers quicker and easier translating of Helium since a translator will be able to directly see the changes performed. (Only a release is required)
  • The Advanced Tag Editor comes with a new template control, File info. This control will display information about the current file and more.

New in Helium 13.6.15182 (Jan 9, 2019)

  • Possibility to download lyrics for multiple files from the Tag editor
  • Two new lyrics plug-ins. Note that one of them, ApiSeeds, needs to be configured before it can be used
  • Row indicator in the Tag editor which improves the visual feedback of which row that’s beeing edited
  • Improvements to the Copy tags tool
  • Better removal of deprecated Vorbis tag-frames
  • Pre-validation of databases that are about to be imported
  • Improvements to importing
  • Proper updating of calculated BPM in the Playlists view
  • Improvements to subtrack replaying from the Subtracks editor
  • Performance improvements when changing between views that has been intialized
  • Various SQLite fixes.

New in Helium 13.6.15169 (Dec 31, 2018)

  • This version comes with a few bug fixes and minor improvements.

New in Helium 13.6.15158 (Dec 24, 2018)

  • This version focuses on performance optimzations, mainly for SQLite but also for the other database types that can be used with Helium.
  • Multiple improvements and fixes has been implemented in this release.
  • Click here to read about some of the more major changes.
  • We have also released updated iOS applications of Helium Streamer and Helium Remote.

New in Helium 13.6.15156 Beta (Dec 20, 2018)

  • The major goal with Helium 13.6 is SQLite optimizations. Since the release of Helium 13.5 we have noticed that SQLite can act slow on:
  • Larger add operations
  • Larger update library operations
  • Importing of databases
  • Larger tag updating operations
  • Calculating of various statistics
  • We have therefore focused on optimizing the above functions which has resulted in huge speed improvements when working with SQLite. The most of the optimizations also applies to other database types.
  • Because of the above improvements for SQLite we recommend all users which have performance issues with Helium 13.5 to try this release.
  • If you work with SQLite and find a specific workflow that still seems to run slow, click here to contact us so that we can analyse that further.
  • Other major changes in this release:
  • Possibility to use expression filters for columns in track lists (Premium version only). Can be activated from Tools > Options > Views > Tracks > Show column filters.
  • Support for word replacements in the Find duplicates tool. It is possible to define a list of words that should be replaced when the tool is executed. For example feat. shall always be replaced with ft. so that “The Prodigy feat. Other artist” shall be treated as a 100% match with “The Prodigy ft. Other artist”. This setting is accessed from the Settings button the the Find duplicates tool.
  • It is possible to remap picture paths stored in the database if the source folder is moved. The tool can be accessed from Tools > Options > Pictures and by clicking the Remap button for the picture type that shall be remapped.
  • Support for new fields in subtracks:
  • Lyricist
  • Language
  • All custom fields
  • Lyrics
  • Possibility to optimize SQLite databases (index de-fragmentation and compressing)
  • Column sorting in track lists are preserved during sessions. This also applies on sortings made with multiple columns by pressing shift whilst clicking the column.
  • Corrections to picture handling when updating pictures (SQLite)
  • The Action manager can now remove attached pictures.
  • Optimizations when parsing multiple artists. During reading and writing of tracks.
  • Corrections to displaying of item type for albums with subtracks.

New in Helium 13.5.15130 (Nov 29, 2018)

  • This version comes with the following major changes:
  • SQLite replaces SQL Compact as the default database type
  • Integrated F1 help for the most tools and views and many new help topics
  • Playlist node for quick browsing and managing of playlists in the Music Explorer
  • Drag and drop support in the Music Explorer
  • Possibility to update selected tracks in the database via the context menu in track lists
  • Playlist drop-zone allowing dropping of albums and tracks for any view to quickly be able to add items to a specific playlist from any view
  • Real time tempo change during playback (-30% to +30%)
  • Automatic calculating of BPM during playback
  • Create harmonic mixed playlists using tonality and BPM
  • New fields related to artists in filters, Advanced searches and Smart playlists
  • Various user interface improvements

New in Helium 13.4.15084 (Oct 2, 2018)

  • This version corrects some functions in the duplicate finder plus that the Add to default playlist command is available via track list context menues.

New in Helium 13.3.15065 Beta (Aug 6, 2018)

  • New MySql drivers and changes/improvements to queries. This affects the most of the application.
  • Threading fixes.
  • Setting for using year fallback, if release year is not specifically contained in tags (e.g. ID3v1 tags which only supports recording year), a fallback to recording year will be used when this setting is active.
  • Capitalization fixes in the Tag editor.
  • Improvements to FLAC reading and writing
  • Minor bug fixes and improvements

New in Helium 13.2.15050.0 Beta (Jun 25, 2018)

  • Major changes:
  • Smart play function for the Tag editors: Easily skip between intro, break and outtro positions (configurable) with just one click.
  • Volume change button added to the Tag editors
  • Song position label added to the Tag editors
  • Support for multiple track-download plugin-ins in the Tag editor
  • New plug-in, MusicBrainz. Supports album pictures and tracks
  • Tag editor stores and updates MusicBrainz album and track IDs on tags and in the database (when downloaded or previously existing)
  • Updates and improvements for MySql backup tool
  • Various updates and minor improvements for the Action manager tool
  • Support for Tag-to-filename codes in the Action manager tool
  • Improvements to the Update library process, sync dates are handled better thus reducing unnecessary synchronization jobs
  • Updates of multiple components
  • Improved compatibility for album artist TXXX tag-fields (read/write)
  • Possibility to access Capitalizer and Word replacer settings from the Tag editors
  • The script engine uses a new compiler which supports c# v6 and v7.
  • NOTE: Previously existing scripts will no longer be compatible without a small change, the namespace declaration must be removed from the script.
  • Full timestamps included on backup filenames
  • Bugfix: Subtracks are ont properly added to the database after editing
  • Bugfix: The Duplicate finder could not always be properly started
  • Bugfix: Multiple genres could sometimes create an extra empty genre
  • Bugfix: Writing of FLAC tags with multiple application tag-blocks did not worked properly
  • Bugfix: Simple search does not show artists with pictures as matches

New in Helium 13.2.15025.0 Beta (May 21, 2018)

  • Major changes:
  • New tool, Action manager – The scripting support introduced in Helium 12 is very powerful when it comes to created automated tasks with custom logic. It is a bit complex though, since it requires that the end-user has knowledge of basic programming within the .NET language. The Action manager is similar to the tool which existed in older Helium versions which allows you to automate tasks without the needing of scripting knowledge. Please note that this tool is not fully completed, it is missing some translations and QA testing.
  • MySql 8 support. Several SQL statements has been updated to support MySql 8. This version of Helium also comes with updated MySql drivers.
  • Visual icons has been added for several columns. You can control if you would like to display icons only for this columns or icons together with text.
  • Quality column introduced.
  • The window (task-bar) title can scroll to show the full information about the song currently being played.
  • Possibility to multi-select suggested tracks and perform actions against them.
  • A specific artists age is calculated and shown in artist details. (requires that at least born date is filled)
  • Possibility con control how downloaded track-information should be merged/overwritten more in detail.
  • Extended error logging when adding tracks to the Library.
  • Possibility to set favourite from scripts.
  • Possibility to work with multiple artists from scripts.
  • Track download plugins can use multiple artists.
  • Apart from the above improvements, this version also contains bug corrections and minor improvements.

New in Helium 13.1.14994.0 (Apr 26, 2018)

  • Support for UTF8 encoded CUE files
  • Bits per sample shown in file properties overview
  • Various fixes to the scripting enging when commiting tags
  • Component updates
  • Bug fix: After adding tracks to a playlist, adding tracks to the same playlist will not work until a restart of Helium
  • Major improvements and fixes to reading and writing FLAC tags
  • Custom nodes in Music Explorer properly updated when changing language
  • Possibility to hide time-markers in waveform/spectrogram
  • Improvements to editing of Involved peoples/Musician credits list
  • Improvements to view refreshing after editing tags in the Artist view, split mode
  • Progress when applying tags is properly shown
  • Progress dialog when deleting files from the Duplicate finder tool
  • Compability impovement, support for reading null-separated genres as multiple genres
  • Improvements and corrections to the Tag to filename engine
  • Recording year can be properly removed with the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Corrections when creating new users
  • Theme fixes for light theme related to lyrics and biography
  • Update corrections when editing artist biographies
  • Possility to select which formats to add when using the Add tool
  • Favourites column will show a heart icon
  • Possibility to mark/unmark one or more tracks as favourite from tracklists

New in Helium 13.0.14957.0 (Mar 11, 2018)

  • Bug fix: Russian language not set properly
  • Bug fix: When the current song was changed in statistics view, Helium could stop
  • Bug fix: Corrections for selection handling when no files were selected
  • Improvement: Sorting is used for albums in the Now playing view
  • Improvement: Improvements to persisting of columns between sessions
  • Improvement: Duplicate items with the worst quality is auto selected in the Duplicate finder
  • Improvement: Minor improvemens to the UI when importing a Helium 11 database
  • Improvement: Possibility to auto-set total tracks in the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Bug fix: Better restoring of prior view when navigating between views
  • Bug fix: Track list not properly shown in Labels view
  • Bug fix: Current track not always properly set when using the Auto inc/dec track in the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Improvement: Selected files shown in statusbar
  • Improvement: Better error handling and logging in the File Synchronize tool
  • Bug fix: MP4 encoding settings not used properly
  • Improvement: BASS library updated to the most recent version
  • Bug fix: Various fixes when converting to WAVE files
  • Improvement Column sorting rememered in track lists
  • Bug fix: ID3v2 specific tag settings could affect other tag formats
  • Bug fix: When converting to VBR files, clicks could be appended to the start of the resulting file
  • Improvement: Capitalizer will not affect lock fields in the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Improvement: Updated MySql connector
  • Improvement: Updates to graphical components
  • Apart from the above listed changes, we have also corrected all reported bugs and fixed some minor improvements.

New in Helium 13.0.14943.0 (Jan 28, 2018)

  • It is now possible to start tools without the need of selecting files, if no specific files are selected all files will be selected by default for quicker invocation
  • Grouping on numerical fields are now properly sorted (CD, Bpm etc)
  • Multiple improvements to the File synchronize tool
  • Updated Czech translation
  • Multiple improvements for the pending tag queue
  • Player marker properly synchronized in track lists
  • Improvements to extraction of multiple artists
  • Corrections to album artist sorting in the Music Explorer
  • New versions of the mobile apps
  • Possibility to download picture from Tag editor for files that does not exist in the Library
  • Edit multiple artists in the Tag editor via the F2 key
  • Possibility to group on artist in the Music Explorer
  • Improvements to threading during converting of files
  • Component upgrades

New in Helium 13.0.14922.0 (Jan 8, 2018)

  • The most relevant changes includes:
  • System volume changes are visualized in Helium
  • Improvements to attached pictures MIME handling
  • File synchronization tool properly supports cancellation
  • Corrections to genre handling when genres mapped to tracks can be null
  • Improvements to updates for the release details page
  • Various component updates
  • Corrections to user interface updates (Dispatcher) when using the Advanced tag editor from various views
  • Improvements to the scripting engine, more fields are supported
  • Possibility to set/update artists pictures via scripting
  • Possibility to use rescaling of pictures from scripts
  • Improvements to editing of multiple genres
  • Support for Smart playlists in File synchronization
  • Updates to the Android apps
  • Unknown albums will no longer be included in the album picture handling
  • Several improvements to the file copying tool
  • Major improvements to M4A file and tagging, mainly compatibility related
  • Improvements to the inplace editing in the Tag editor
  • Prevention of adding duplicates to the File synchronization tool
  • Possibility to select output device and buffer level when DirectSound is used instead of WASAPI
  • Improvements to the preloading in the player

New in Helium 13.0.14869.0 (Dec 7, 2017)

  • Rewritten Music Explorer, offering more nodes, better performance and refreshes
  • Audio joiner tool
  • Much more possibilities to restrict user policies
  • Advanced filtering support for the Music Explorer, Releases, Artists, Labels, Tracks, Genres and Years. These new filters are per-view and replaces the old global filter
  • Support for Collections and volumes
  • Fully customized toolbar for quick access to the tools you prefer
  • Support for General purpose plug-ins with a fully open API and sample code
  • File synchronization tool with full MTP device support
  • Shared playlists support
  • Major performance improvements when tagging files
  • New versions of our mobile apps

New in Helium 13.0.14838.0 RC (Nov 20, 2017)

  • This update comes with various fixes and minor improvements as well as one major new feature – it is possibly to synchronize to devices supporting the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). The MTP protocol is supported by almost all Android devices as well as other media players.
  • The synchronization process works just the same as when synchronizing to a folder and it supports devices with multiple storages such as an SD card and internal memory.
  • The transcoding process in the synchronization has been rewritten to support multiple CPU-cores to execute quicker.

New in Helium 13.0.14820.0 RC (Nov 9, 2017)

  • Major changes in this version:
  • Convert files will use multiple CPU cores for better speed
  • Possibility to add tracks, albums, playlists and folders to the File synchronization tool via the context menu
  • Release type mapping support. It is now possible to map a specific text-frame to a release type for MP3 and MP4/M4A files
  • Filter improvements in similar artists view
  • Release type overlays uses dynamic sizes and more consistent looks
  • Updated components
  • Better handling of FLAC files with seektables
  • Various refresh improvements
  • Improvements to subtrack tagging
  • Improvements for Quick tag editor tag writing
  • Improvements for WAV tag writing and reading
  • Improvements when removing tags
  • Helium Streamer 3.3 RC:
  • User permissions:
  • Helium Streamer now uses the same permission system as Helium does. The permissions set on a user in Helium is used in Helium Streamer and vice versa. Not all permissions makes sense to support in Helium Streamer, but most does. You can edit permissions for a user from the Settings page.
  • Album collection management:
  • It was previously possible to filter for album collections in Helium Streamer but you could only use album collections set from Helium. It is now possible to add and remove collections from an album, as well as create, edit and delete album collections (available from Settings).
  • Multiple thumbnail sizes:
  • It is now possible to switch to medium or small sized thumbnails from Settings.
  • More statistics:
  • The statistics page has been expanded with a bit more information.

New in Helium 13.0.14787.0 Beta 2 (Oct 8, 2017)

  • Performance optimizations in the Albums, Artists and Labels view
  • Shared playlists support – share playlists between multiple Helium users
  • Release type overlay shown on album thumbnails
  • New language: Russian
  • Updated German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch languages
  • Improved drag and move handling to track lists
  • Improvements to drag and drop handling of pictures
  • Improvements to the file synchronization tool
  • Various bug fixes and minor improvements
  • General purpose plug-ins code repositories for plug-in development together with documentation is now available. Please see the following links for more information:
  • Create general purpose plug-ins
  • Code repositorities

New in Helium 13.0.14774.0 Beta (Oct 6, 2017)

  • Major features and improvements:
  • Rewritten Music Explorer with new nodes and better features.
  • Audio Joiner tool.
  • File synchronization tool.
  • Possibility to customize which views a specfic user shall have access to .
  • File format type support for releases and filters as well as displaying in releases.
  • Possibility to lock playlists from modification.
  • Support for tracklists below the content pane for the releases, artists and labels view.
  • Advanced filtering support for Music explorer, Releases, Artists, Labels, Tracks, Genres and Years views.
  • Improvements to backup and restore
  • Possibility to create your own toolbar with frequently used tools.
  • Major speed improvement when tagging MP3 and FLAC files.
  • Collection/volume support is back and with new powerful features.
  • Support for General plugins as well of he possibility to develop own general plugins
  • Editing and displaying of lyrics with support for HTML formatted content.

New in Helium 12.4.14689.0 (Jun 26, 2017)

  • Major improvements to Helium 12.4:
  • Carousel view which allows albums to be viewed in a cover-flow style. Fully customizable for displaying number of items, perspective and more.
  • Track list instead of detailed view for the releases and artists view in split mode.
  • Permission management per user allowing to set permissions what a specific user can and cannot do.
  • Smarter saving of tags, only contents that are actually changed will be saved and therefore saving of tags will be more efficient.
  • Album collections can be reordered and the Release tooltip template can be configured to display which album collections a release is contained in.
  • Possibility to use genre style grouping in the Genres view as well as possibility to manage genre styles and contained genres.
  • Possibility to set more descriptive names for rename templates.
  • Copy tags tool which allows copying and transcoding of tag contents between files and different formats.
  • Several new track list columns has been added.
  • New search fields has been added.
  • Several of the the views are loaded on demand, leading to increased performance and less memory consumption.
  • Several improvements to shortcuts and keyboard handling.
  • More information shown for playlist folders
  • Various user interface improvements
  • Major bug fixes in Helium 12.4:
  • Many fixes related to memory consumption and some memory leaks.
  • Corrections to replaying of files from several tools.
  • Gain related fixes for subtrack tagging
  • Various corrections to the duplicate finder
  • Improved cancellation handling for the split and convert tools.
  • Corrected handling for updating of pictures.
  • Deleting of playlist folders removes child contents properly

New in Helium 12.3.14575.0 (Feb 13, 2017)

  • Major improvements:
  • Brand new replaying engine with perfect gap-less playback and crossfading support.
  • My Computer view, a new view which allows you to work with files that are not yet added to your library. A perfect view to do pre-fixes of your meta data such as tagging and renaming before you include the files in your library.
  • The Quick editor is a new pane available for views with tracklists, including the above mentioned My Computer view. This pane allows you to quickly tag & correct tags in batch without the need to opening a specfic tool for that.
  • Possibility to select multiple albums and work efficient with the selelections of data.
  • Performance improvements in several views and tools.
  • Customizable tooltips for the releases and artists views.
  • Tooltips for cells in a trackklist.
  • Releases containing reviews will display a small icon.
  • Improvements to copy & paste, cut & paste functions in the Tag editor
  • Major bug fixes:
  • Improvements and fixes for the backup & restore tools.
  • Various fixes related to editing of multiple artists
  • Various fixes related to album and artist handling during adding and updating of files
  • Fixes of reported issues

New in Helium 12.2.14460.0 (Nov 28, 2016)

  • Major improvements in Helium 12.2:
  • New user interface for the Update library tool. The tool now allows updating of specific folders selected from a tree
  • Startup speed optimizations. Up to 300% quicker startup when using larger databases.
  • General speed optimizations for various views
  • Optimizations for the converter tool (uses multiple cores when possible)
  • Optimizations for the splitter tools (uses multiple cores when possible)
  • New now playing view
  • Possibility to use cropping of thumbnails
  • Possibility to select different thumbnail aspect ratios per-view
  • A-Z button filter available from the releases, artists and labels view allowing quick jumping to a specific letter. Can be toggled on/off.
  • Possibility to mark an album or artist as a favourite directly via the thumbnail control from all views
  • HTML formatting support for biography (Edit artist, artist pages)
  • HTML formatting support for Album review
  • New job queueing logic which allows tagging whilst playing and having queued jobs
  • French language added
  • Click on the player time to toggle between elapsed/remaining time
  • Context driven status bars showing more exact information for the active view/filter
  • Size available as a column in track lists
  • The playlists a file is contained in is now shown in Properties as a new tab
  • Performance optimizations in the Music Explorer tree
  • Possibility to resize the left-bar in the Playlists view
  • Visual improvements in the Rename tool
  • Improvements to MP4/M4* file reading so that videos shall not be added
  • Option allowing the source file to be automatically removed after a split operation
  • The current Windows regional date format is now used to display dates
  • Minor improvements to backup and restore operations
  • File owner added to the rename tool (Tag to filename engine)
  • Possibility to update a specific folder from the Music explorer > Library context menu
  • Possibility to move multiple columns up/down in the Select columns tool
  • Possibility to edit tags for either selected files/items in the view or all items in the view
  • Improvements to auto-track increase functions in the Tag editors
  • Filename to tag templates will be saved and remembered between sessions
  • Album version available as naming variable for album pictures
  • Download lyrics API available
  • Major bug fixes in Helium 12.2:
  • Logic for cd-path handling fixes and improvements
  • Bug fix related to writing of FLAC attached picture descriptions with foreign characters and incorrect text encoding
  • Proper updating of play counter and last played in the Play queue and track lists
  • Track list sorting is properly applied in the Music Explorer, Tracks view
  • Statistics on artist detail pages will now properly scroll when necessary
  • Properly opening of files with foreign characters in the Analyze tool
  • Bug fix when manual queue mode could be lost in the Play queue after tagging
  • Bug fixes and minor improvements related to edit mode in track lists
  • Bug fixes related to saving of recording year in MP3 files
  • Bug fixes related to the Smart playlists select by functions
  • Bug fixes related to locking of multiple pictures in the Advanced tag editor
  • Reset button properly shows in Music Explorer albums view when using a filter
  • Various visual bug fixes when removing tracks from a playlist
  • Properly hiding/showing of active Music explorer root nodes
  • Bug fixes related to displaying of file owner contents

New in Helium 12.1.14399.0 (Oct 24, 2016)

  • This update contains the following major changes:
  • New job queueing logic which allows tagging whilst playing and having queued jobs
  • French language added
  • Click on the player time to toggle between elapsed/remaining time
  • Proper updating of play counter and last played in the Play queue and track lists
  • Track list sorting is properly applied in the Music Explorer, Tracks view
  • Changed default sorting for Artist details > All tracks
  • More context driven statusbars
  • Size available as a column in track lists
  • The playlists a file is contained in is now shown in Propeties
  • Performance optimizations in the Music Explorer tree
  • Possibility to resize the left-bar in the Playlists view
  • Statistics on artist detail pages will now properly scroll when neccesary
  • Properly opening of files with foreign characters in the Analyse tool
  • Bug fix when manual enque mode could be lost in the Play queue after tagging
  • Bug fix related to writing of FLAC attached picture descriptions with foreign characters and incorrect text encoding
  • Bug fixes and minor improvements related to edit mode in track lists
  • Bug fixes related to saving of recording year in MP3 files
  • Bug fixes related to the Smart playlists select by functions
  • Bug fixes related to locking of multiple pictures in the Advanced tag editor
  • Reset button properly shows in Music Explorer albums view when using a filter
  • Visual improvements in the Rename tool
  • As usual a lot of more minor things which has been reported to us has also been corrected.

New in Helium 12.1.14366.0 (Oct 9, 2016)

  • Major improvements in Helium 12.1:
  • Possibility to toggle between tracklist and albums in the Music explorer and tracks view
  • Play queue can be docked in the right sidebar. When docked in the right sidebar, you can drag tracks from tracklist to the Play queue as well as albums
  • Several improvements to importing of Helium 11 databases
  • Several improvements to handle incorrect ID3v2 tag-frames
  • Possibility to edit lookup data used in Tag editors from Options
  • Release type is available in renaming and user defined columns
  • Three lines of playing information which can be fully customized
  • Possibility to capitalize all text fields using the active capitalization rules via the script engine
  • Possibility to set rating to one or more tracks in a tracklist via the context menu.
  • Possibility to filter contents of tracklists from Music explorer, Genre view, Year view and search results.
  • Possibility to save album picture to tags
  • New language, Spanish
  • Possibility to define what a user column in a track list should link to. Available link types are:
  • Artist detail page (main artist)
  • Genre
  • Label details
  • Release details
  • Track details
  • New statistics, Releases by release year and tracks by recording year
  • File properties will now show attached pictures
  • Possibility to execute a specific script via a shortcut
  • Possibility to inactivate detail page statistics. Useful to improve performance when using larger Sql Compact databases
  • Album collections filter available from the Albums view. An album can be set to belong to one or more collections, for example “To be tagged”, “To be listened to”, “High quality” via the context menu for an album. A new button located to the top-right in the Albums view allows you to quickly set which collection to be viewed as a static filter. You can still combine this filter with additional filters.
  • Possibility to set Release type for all tracks of an album via the context menu
  • Possibility to set Release type for the selected tracks via the context menu
  • Added date is available as a selectable tracklist column
  • New iOS applications of Helium Streamer and Helium Remote with full iOS 10 support
  • Possibility to edit album reviews and view them from album details
  • Grouping available as a column in track lists
  • Major bugfixes in Helium 12.1:
  • Possible crashes in smart playlists if certain arguments were set
  • Corrections to alternation coloring in Playlists and Smart playlists
  • Selecting tracks from album details was not in correct order
  • Corrections to filename collisions in the converter and the CD-ripper
  • Template editing in Rename tool should now react to new templates
  • It was previously not possible to use Apply/Apply down on the Album version field in the Tag editor
  • Importing of playlist folders and playlists in folders works correct
  • User columns did not show data in the Playlist view

New in Helium 12.0.14277.0 (Aug 30, 2016)

  • We are today more than proud to present the result of the last one and a half years of hard work, a completely new digital music management tool.
  • Helium 12 is rewritten from the ground up to be a more modern, expandable and powerful tool.
  • Compared to older versions of Helium, there are some major changes in Helium 12 worth to mention:
  • There are now only two versions, a free version and a Premium version.
  • The Premium version is required to be able to use the Helium Remote app, which is still fully free for iOS, Android and Windows 10.
  • If you would like to use the Streamer app, it is still free for iOS and Android, but it will require a license of Helium Streamer.
  • Helium Streamer is also rewritten from scratch and now resembles the interface of Helium 12 so it will be easier to switch between the two. We also plan on releasing a free version of Helium Streamer shortly.
  • The views in Helium 12 is not equal to older versions of Helium – instead they use album, artist and label graphics much more and adds interaction via hyperlinks.
  • There is no specific Music Browser view, instead all views works similar to the old Music Browser!
  • We have implemented a powerful scripting engine which comes with many example script for various operations, ranging from tag operations to list creation and importing of external playlists. Best of all – there’s a well-documented API available so that you can start to create your own scripts today!

New in Helium 11.4 Build 13585 (Jan 4, 2016)

  • This version contains bugfixes and minor improvements

New in Helium 11.3 Build 13550 (Sep 10, 2015)

  • The main improvements for Helium 11.3 relates to stability improvements and bug fixes.
  • The corrections relates mainly to tagging and template handling as well as various performance and stability files.

New in Helium 11.2 Build 13510 (Jun 25, 2015)

  • We have corrected several important memory leaks, especially if you work with WMA files and attached pictures
  • Corrections related to the tag engine has also been performed to give a better overall experience with more compatibility and better performance
  • Several improvements and corrections for Print report are also included in this release
  • Some minor corrections to the Labels view and artists view has also been implemented

New in Helium 11.01 Build 13306 (Feb 27, 2015)

  • Several important fixes and improvements

New in Helium 11.0 Build 13277 (Feb 27, 2015)

  • New labels view
  • Database changes
  • New duplicate finding tool
  • Custom fields, custom nodes and custom release types
  • New versions of our mobile applications
  • Tagging:
  • You can tag a track/album to have multiple labels, just as multiple artists and genres. Multiple labels are supported in all Helium Music Managers tagging tools as well as database tools and views.
  • We have extended the ID3v2 frame compatibility even more to ensure maximum compatibility with other applications.
  • Five new custom tag fields and five new customizable release types have been added. Read more about this below.
  • A new Album version field has been added to allow you to more specifically set if a release is a master, digital remake, special edition or similar. This field can be used for grouping, sorting and display in the Albums view.
  • If you download track information from the Tag Editor, you can now quickly select a specific plug-in to be used without the need of going via Options.
  • Your defined external applications can now be accessed from the Advanced Tag Editors toolbar.
  • Multiple enhancements to the Tag exporting tool has been implemented. You can now add new items to any of the lists as well as move items up/down, sorting the list by clicking the column headers as well as select a specific album to be used as source/destination.
  • Various updates:
  • Helium Music Manager 11 comes with the most recent versions of BASS and it's add-ons used for replaying, ripping, encoding and much more.
  • The BPM tag-field can now be used with Helium Music Managers Actions.
  • The Rename wizard now warns visually when a specific filename exceeds 255 characters.
  • You can rename a single item in the Rename wizards preview by selecting it and click F2.
  • The most tagging and information editing tools now comes with updated drag and drop pictures support.
  • Suggested tracks in the Now playing view is now much more randomized.
  • It is now possible to import/export Music Browser data between databases.
  • Improved possibilities to execute BAT files from external tools.
  • You can now configure if you would like autofit columns to be automatically used per-view.

New in Helium 10.5.0 Build 12865 (Nov 17, 2014)

  • The main updates for this Helium Music Manager release relates to updates of download plug-ins.
  • The main focus has been on updating the Discogs plug-in due to changes in their API.
  • We have also made improvements to artist picture handling in the Advanced Tag Editor as well as optimizations and bugfixes.

New in Helium 10.4.0 Build 12790 (Aug 22, 2014)

  • This new release comes with updates for the Music Explorer which now let you rename and/or delete an entire album or artist from the respective node in the tree. There has also been improvements regarding view refreshes.
  • We have also made several optimizations to the File Rename Wizard, which will now display the result much quicker than before.
  • The replaying engines for FLAC and WavPack files has also been updated.
  • A new action has also been added, Capitalize field using capitalizer rules, which allows you to format a specific tag-field using the set capitalizer rule.
  • We have also made several impovements to the Discogs plug-in.

New in Helium 10.3.0 Build 12690 (Aug 22, 2014)

  • This update of Helium Music Manager comes with stability and performance fixes as well as new extensions for the web service, used by the different apps to give full support for the new Publisher and Added date views as well as improvements and corrections.
  • This version also comes with improvements when using strict Vorbis comment tagging as well as fixes to standard Vorbis tagging.

New in Helium 10.2.2 Build 12590 (May 1, 2014)

  • Several important fixes and improvements

New in Helium 10.2.1 Build 12550 (Mar 24, 2014)

  • Helium Music Manager comes in a new release which is mainly focused on maintenance fixes and optimizations although some new minor new function has been implemented.

New in Helium 10.2 Build 12490 (Feb 17, 2014)

  • The Smart playlist tool now supports linking of one or more playlist to give you the possibility to create cooler and more dynamic Smart playlists than before.
  • Improvements for renaming/editing of Smart playlist properties.
  • Template based custom naming of album pictures can now be used.
  • Possibility to housekeep album pictures with one click.
  • Possibility to directly apply bulked operations for tools that requires that bulked changes are applied.
  • New user interface for album pages in the Music Browser.
  • Improved handling for foreign characters in the Music Browser.
  • Possibility to edit publisher information from a search result in the Music Browser.
  • Discover tracks function available from tracklists in the Music Browser.
  • Improvements when synchronizing pictures to MTP devices.
  • Improvements in the logic for upper case/lower case capitalization.
  • Various fixes and improvements for artist sort order handling.
  • Various fixes for the Print report tool.
  • Various fixes for the Album summary page.
  • Improvements for loading/saving of Equalizer presets

New in Helium 10.1 Build 12350 (Dec 19, 2013)

  • Support for details mode in the Music Browser. When switching to details mode you will be able to see information presented in detailed lists instead of as thumbnails.
  • User interface and content improvements for the Music Browser artist page. This page will now display information more like the Helium Music Streamer.
  • Multiple sorting improvements to various Music Browser pages.
  • Corrections and improvements to the Music Browser statistics page.
  • Performance improvements to adding operations, adding operations are up to 40% quicker than before.
  • Performance improvements to tagging operations using the tag editors.
  • Improvements to the Print report tool.
  • Improvements for incorrect tags handling. Reading of invalid tags is now much more tolerant.
  • New language: Español Latino
  • Language updates for German, Italian and Dutch languages
  • Various updates to our information download plug-ins

New in Helium 10.0 Build 12215 (Oct 31, 2013)

  • A more pleasant user experience:
  • One of the more central and larger changes in Helium Music Manager 10 is the revised user interface in the Music Browser as well as in the Now Playing and Summary views.
  • The Music Browser is now using a so-called responsive design solution which will ensure that the windows full width and height is used the smartest way.
  • We have also introduced a side menu which contains quick links to the most common sections as well as a breadcrumb at the top which will allow you to simply navigate one or more steps back from the page you are currently viewing.
  • To make the information more readable we have made the text a bit larger, changed the selection of colors for some elements, introduced new tabs for some pages as well as presetning new and/or smarter content.
  • Major changes for the Music Browser pages:
  • When album and artist images are shown, the full-size pictures will now be used to present higher quality pictures. The images also scales depending on your screen resolution which makes album and artist thumbnails work better on both larger and smaller screens.
  • Album and artist thumbnails contains new smart hover functions. When hovering an artist/album image, an icon will be shown in the top-left corner. Pressing this icon will give you access to a context menu which allows you to quickly reach commonly used actions.
  • Track lists are presented in columns that will ellipsize the text when it is too long. Hovering the ellipsized column always show the full content. Just as for artist and album items you will have access to a hover menu which will contain quick access to commands often used for tracks.
  • When you browse your artists you will come to a new landing page for all your artists which contains information grouped on four different tabs. The tabs will contain information such as a graphical presentation of artists that have not been played in the last three months, a list of artists not played in the last year as well as artists never played. You can still browse all of your artists paginated with full filtering and sorting capabilities.
  • Album artists in now browsable in the same smart and easy way as artists.
  • Albums are also browsable using the same way as artists and album artists.
  • When browsing a specific artist we have changed the way information is presented a bit so that you now easily can see which information you have set for the artist as well as quick access to functions related to updating of the artist picture and downloading/changing of artist information.
  • When browsing an artists discography you will have the possibility to browse releases that you do not have in your collection. You can select a specific release to see more information about it as well as prelistening the tracks with the possibility to purchase this specific release. The same "online" function is also available when browsing similar artists for a specific artist. Helium Music Manager can here suggest some artists that are similar to the selected artists which you do not have in your collection.
  • Genres are presented with a new landing page which will present all available genres in your collection as well as with information of how many releases you have for each genre.
  • Years also comes with a new landing page which presents all different years in your collection as well as with information how many tracks you have from a specific year.
  • Playlists is a new view introduced in the Music Browser which allows you to browse all your playlists in your collection with full support for folders. It is now possible to add entries from several places in the Music Browser to existing or new playlists.
  • Favourites also comes with a new landing page which quickly presents all your favourites per favourite type. Many of the views now supports quick access functions via hover menus and buttons to set artists, albums or tracks as favourites. When this type of data is changes for a page, the refresh functions have been improved to reduce waiting time, it now updates instantly without requerying the database.
  • Statistics has also got a large cleanup as well as new functions. The design of the statistics detail pages have been remade to present more information in a more visible way. This change also applies to charts.
  • Change data many times and apply when needed:
  • Helium Music Manager 10 comes with a new tagging mode named "bulk tagging".
  • The changed data will be updated in Helium Music Managers database, but not to the files tags until you say so. If you change meta data of a file that already has been updated, Helium Music Manager will merge the changes with the prior changes to ensure that no data is lost.
  • All updated data will still be show visually in Helium Music Manager to ensure that the most recent data is shown. This does of course also apply to Helium Music Managers others applications such as the Helium Remote for Android/Windows Phone/iOS/WinRT as well as Helium Streamer for Android/Windows Phone/iOS/Windows RT/Store and the webversion.
  • When you have a lot of pending bulk changes queued, you can set Helium Music Manager to update all affected files and they will only be updated once to your tags, no matter if the specific files has been changed one ot ten times. A large time saving function!
  • Smarter batch action functions:
  • The actions in Helium Music Manager which allows you to do batch changes to multiple files at once has been improved so that they are now running in its own thread which increases stability and performance as well as allowing all actions to be abortable.
  • Some of the actions logic has also been improved in various ways; actions which modifies some information on tags now allows you to use variables to set/change the content. If you for example select the action "Add/modify field" you can select to modify the album and set the content to be %alb (%relyear), which will result in that the content will still contain the album but the release year will be appended to the field in the end. Many variables are available and usable from the most actions.
  • We have also introduced a new action, Extract multiple artists, which will automatically extract multiple artists using the defined rules for the selected files as well as we have improved several of the downloading functions to generate more and better data.
  • Performance improvements:
  • Several of the views and tools contains improvements that will result in better usage speeds. We have not only fine-tuned many of the tools, we have also improved many of the database queries to generate better speed when working with the database from various tools. Improvements for MySQL 5.6+ has been added and we are of course supporting the new MariaDB database type (just open it as a MySQL database).
  • One area which also contains many optimization and improvements are the tool which allows you to download multiple artist information from various sources. This tool is now also accessible from many of the Music Browsers new views.
  • Smart automatic sorting functions:
  • Sorting is a very vital part in many of Helium Music Managers views, all from the Music Explorer to the Album view as well as the Music Browser.
  • Helium Music Manager 10 now comes with some very smart functions that allows you to automatically assign sort order for artists and album artists much more effective than before.
  • If enabled, Helium Music Manager will auto set sort order for these fields during adding and tagging. The function will now support mutiple artists (for the artist field) and use previously set sort-order data more precise than before to avoid that data is being overwritten.
  • Other changes:
  • Apart from all of the changes above we have of course fixed all reported issues as well as fine-tuned many other functions and tools. The list would be too long to include here, but the changes relates to sorting in the Album details view, smart housekeeping of artist pictures, highly improved atttached picture handling in the Advanced Tag Editor, various tag-formats compatibility improvements, improvements to all download plug-ins just to mention a few.
  • The changes does not only relate to Helium Music Manager itself, we have also done a lot of improvements to our Streaming applications for Windows Phone and Android, which are of course free no matter which version of Helium Music Manager you are using!

New in Helium 9.5 Build 11840 (Jul 9, 2013)

  • Improvements to automatic MusicBrainz id recalculating when automatically downloading information in the Music Browser
  • When downloading information from the Music browser/edit artist information, more details and more precise results are downloaded
  • Various corrections to the Discogs download plug-in
  • Various corrections to the Last.fm download plug-in
  • Improvements to FreeDB information parsing
  • Improvements and fixes to reading of incorrect ID3v2 attached pictures
  • When downloading artist/album pictures the selected picture is checked so that it can be downloaded before the dialog is closed
  • When using the capitalizer action, multiple artists are now capitalized
  • Bugfixes and corrections to advanced searches and smart playlists
  • Improved support for ISRC and catalog number in M4A tags
  • New Estonian language
  • Various improvements to the Tag export tool
  • Various improvements to the web services

New in Helium 9.4.2 Build 11715 (Jun 7, 2013)

  • This release comes with the following major corrections:
  • Auto correction settings could cause problems with special characters
  • Rendering of the Music Browser recent albums page did not worked ok
  • The local cache could display the wrong information about present tags for a track
  • This release also comes with the following changes:
  • Change in terminology: Helium Web Service is renamed to Helium Remote in Options
  • When the option "Add all tracks on double-click" is selected from Options > Views > General, all tracks in the track list starting the the clicked tracks will be added to the Play queue.

New in Helium 9.4.1 Build 11695 (Jun 3, 2013)

  • Major improvements to the webservice used with Helium Remote has been included to ensure faster performance and more stability.
  • Templates for auto correction, capitalization, multiple artists and content cache has been moved to a central storage in the database and is shared between multiple users in the Network version to ensure that the same data and capitalization rules are used for all users.
  • Templates for Vorbis field mappings, searches has also been moved to the database.
  • Copy and move operations are now fully threaded and with the possibility to cancel the operation. If confliciting filenames will occur during a copy operation the end user will have the possibility how to handle these conflicts before the full operation starts.
  • Possibility to directly exclude artist combinations in the editing tool for multiple artists.
  • Various improvements to the user interface in the Music Browser
  • Sorting improvements to the Music Browser.
  • Corrections for grouping in the Artist browser.
  • Various improvements to generting of AcoustIDs.
  • Various language updates.
  • Improvements to mediakey handling has been included.
  • Corrections for device synchronization templates.
  • Corrections for reading of Ogg Vorbis bitrates.

New in Helium 9.4.0 Build 11640 (May 7, 2013)

  • Support and improvements for backup of MySQL 5.6 databases
  • Possibility to automatically calculate AcoustID from the Tag Editor (Advanced)
  • When sorting is used in Helium Music Manager, it will also be used by the Helium Remote
  • Support for the Initial Key field in the Album details view
  • Optimizations and performance improvements for tag updates and database synchronization
  • Multiple improvements to discography handling in the Music Browser
  • Increased compatibility of the album artist tag
  • Fixes and improvements when using the Properties function from the Album details view
  • Improvements to sort order handling in the Tag editor (Advanced)
  • Various improvements and fixes to the tagging engine
  • Fixes and improvements to the Pictures pane when changing display types
  • Improvements to saving of rating and genre changes when used from the Internal Player
  • Various improvements to FreeDB handling
  • Corrections to track list coloring
  • Corrections to the Play queue
  • Language updates

New in Helium 9.3.0 Build 11570 (Apr 3, 2013)

  • Possibility to directly download and install new updates from the application
  • Corrections and improvements to the restore SQL Server database function. If an instance is not found, the user will now be able to select which instance to restore the database to.
  • Multiple corrections and improvements to the Discover tracks view
  • Corrections and improvements to the import database function
  • Improvements and corrections for the Coverflow view
  • Improvements to the Smart Playlist limiter functions
  • User interface improvements for the artist and album Music Browser views
  • Corrections and improvements related to folder synchronization
  • Corrections and improvements to the AcoustID calculations
  • Corrections and improvements to the Audio Splitter tool
  • Extended handling for problematic files in the File Rename Wizard
  • Possibility to optionally overwrite existing playlists during exporting of playlists
  • Drag and drop corrections in the Music Explorer
  • Corrections to favourite artists and albums in the Music Explorer during multi-user usage
  • Several fixes to the Tag Editor (Advanced) and the Filename To Tag function inside the Tag Editor (Advanced)
  • Updates to the Czech language
  • Updates to the Polish language
  • Updates to the Swedish language

New in Helium 9.2.1 Build 11480 (Feb 5, 2013)

  • Corrections and improvements to the Last.fm download plug-in
  • Corrections and improvements to the Discogs plug-in
  • Improvements so that the quick search supports wildcards
  • Various improvements to the Music Browser
  • Corrections to the Split tool so that very long files are fully supported
  • Updates to several of the languages
  • Improvements and fixes for the Is Favourite arguments in the advanced search and smart playlists
  • Improvements and fixes to the category fields in the advanced search and smart playlists
  • Corrections and improvements to the built-in web service to work even better with our streamer and remote products
  • Other minor bugfixes and small improvements

New in Helium 9.2.0 Build 11442 (Jan 18, 2013)

  • The main changes have been language and stability updates as well as download plug-in fixes.
  • We have also updated the digital siganture to ensure you that Helium Music Manager is a certificated and safe product to use.

New in Helium 9.1.2 Build 11430 (Jan 4, 2013)

  • Updated German translation
  • Updated Hungarian translation
  • Improvements related to MySQL transaction handling
  • Improvements to downloading of information from the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Regional fixes for Podcast handling
  • Various improvements and minor corrections to downloading of artist informationfrom the Music Browser
  • Corrections to possible duplicate issues in the Album view
  • Various improvements related to AcoustID handing
  • The Splitter tool now supports current and total CD
  • WebServer related fixes
  • Various minor improvements to the Splitter tool
  • Various minor improvements and corrections to the File properties tool
  • Various fixes related to the Download album pictures tool
  • Corrections to the Coverflow view
  • Corrections to the Quick edit tool
  • Corrections to Smart playlist limiters
  • Various improvements and corrections in the Music Explorer

New in Helium 9.1.1 Build 11405 (Dec 6, 2012)

  • Corrections and improvements to Last.fm so that foreign characters are now properly supported
  • Improvements and corrections to the Podcast handling
  • Corrections to the Carousel view
  • Fixes for loading and saving of the Playqueue for MySQL databases
  • Various MySQL fixes and optimizations
  • Minor user interface improvements to the now playing view

New in Helium 9.1 Build 11380 (Nov 29, 2012)

  • Searches are now highly optimized in speed
  • Improved MTP device handling for Windows 7 and 8
  • New and improved Last.fm handling which now supports displaying of which track you are currently listening to
  • Duplicates are no longer added when the Auto-enqueue function is populating the Play queue
  • If an album contains multiple release years and opened with the Tag Editor, the values will not be overwritten by default (until manually changed)
  • It is now possible to save multiple ID3v2 artist tag-fields null separated which is usefull for compatibility with Sonos and other applications
  • Multiple Vorbis artists tag-frames are automatically converted to Helium Music Manager multiple artists tag-frames
  • It is now possible to save multiple artists as individual artists tag-fields for Vorbis tags
  • The Twitter integration has been rewritten and improved
  • Updated version of the encoders used for conversion/transcoding operations
  • Corrections to duplicate finder
  • Corrections when applying Music Browser data to tags
  • Improvements and updates to the Discogs download plug-in
  • Better status bar indication when saving tags in background
  • Corrections to editing of File Rename Wizard templates
  • Updated Hungarian translation
  • Updated Polish language
  • Current CD and Total CD fields are now available from the Audio splitter
  • The spacebar will not pause playing music when searching within a list
  • Improved exist check during action batches
  • Hover texts in internal player for volume/position
  • Discover artist Music Browser improvements and fixes
  • Corrections to the popup menu for Recent searches in the Music Explorer
  • Restructured Tag Editor settings
  • New dynamic date arguments in advanced searches
  • Edit artist information now updates sort order fields correctly
  • Various corrections and improvements to the Music Browser start page
  • Play counter values are now updated from the offline synchronization if selected
  • Corrections to date encoding in the File Rename Wizard
  • Corrections to the Music Analyser
  • Toolbar corrections
  • Corrections and improvements to Update album pictures tool
  • Download support for custom fields
  • Corrections to date/time encoding during tagging
  • Corrections to editing of Publisher information

New in Helium 9.0.2 Build 11247 (Oct 24, 2012)

  • Sorting support in the tracklist of search resuls in the Music Browser
  • Corrections to the Discover artist pages in the Music Browser
  • Corrections to the Discover tracks pages in the Music Browser
  • Corrections to the Artist view when working with grouped modes
  • Sorting improvements to the Artist views grouped modes
  • Album pictures and number of pictures are properly updated after being tagged with the Tag Editor (Advanced)
  • The beep which occurs when searching via the Navigation bar is now removed
  • Columns which are dragged and moved in the Play queue are now properly saved
  • Corrections to startup problems related to the MTPDeviceManager are now solved

New in Helium 9.0.0 Build 11122 RC (Sep 7, 2012)

  • The Gadget now fully supports Helium Music Manager 9
  • Support for GoogleDrive in the Music Explorer (My Computer)
  • Performance and resource improvements related to the Coverflow
  • Corrections to the Discogs plug-in
  • Various language updates
  • Improvements to the File Rename Wizard

New in Helium 9.0.0 Build 11092 Beta (Aug 27, 2012)

  • Less views, more control:
  • One of the biggest improvements in this version of Helium Music Manager is the joining of the Playlist view and the Search view which is now fully integrated into the Music Explorer.
  • The main idea is to eliminate switching between views and create a more flexible Music Explorer view.
  • The Search element in the Music Explorer allows you to create new advanced searches and will give you access to your twenty most recent searches. Just click on either a recent search query or an advanced search query to see the results directly.
  • The Playlists element in the Music Explorer allows you to create and manage all your playlists per user (Network version) with full folder support, just like in the "old" Playlists view.
  • Smart Playlists, Webradio channels and Podcasts are also fully integrated with full multi-user support (Network version) and folder support, just like Playlists.
  • We have worked hard to make the integration as seamless as possible and easy to use. Full drag and drop support is of course available.
  • Multi-track selecting in the Music Browser:
  • The Music Browser has finally got support for selecting of multiple tracks for several pages, which allows you to very quickly select one or more tracks for playing and enqueing. This has been a very requested feature.
  • Support for selecting of multiple tracks are available from the Artist pages, Album pages, Track charts and search results.
  • Windows 8 ready:
  • We have made much testing with Windows 8 to ensure that you can use Helium Music Manager 9 with Windows 8 without problems or additional software components.
  • The Network version of Helium Music Manager 9 also has full support for Azure cloud databases if you prefer to store your music library in "the cloud".
  • Intelligent background processing:
  • A new cool fully automatic feature in Helium Music Manager 9 is the support for background scanning and generating of so-called AcoustIDs.
  • AcoustID is a digital music fingerprint which is used by many of Helium Music Managers tools and features. For example, if the files on an album is missing tags, but has AcoustIDs, you can download full album and track information for all tracks from the album with one simple click. Everything from album art to release year as well as track titles and much more will be downloaded fully automated.
  • New multi-user roles available (Network version only):
  • Two new roles (groups) are available in this version of Helium Music Manager:
  • Editing which allows or disallows editing of tag and database meta data for a user.
  • Move, rename and delete which allows or disallows moving, renaming and deleting of files.
  • These new roles takes Helium Music Managers unique multi-user system to a completely new level. It is now possibel to enable full access-control for users of your Helium Music Manager database and your music library.
  • Updated database handling:
  • The support for our three database types, SQL Server Compact, SQL Server and MySQL has been revised.
  • Performance and stability has been strongly improved with this version of Helium Music Manager. SQL Server Compact (default database type) has been optimized and improved to give a much better experience.
  • For SQL Server database types, all database methods are now threaded and handled with SQL Servers own connection pool to take advantage of Microsofts own optimizations. The revised database model allows full connectivity with Microsofts cloud database system Azure.
  • MySQL is now also fully threaded and is using revised connection drivers. This gives MySQL users highly improved performance and stability as well as allowing better and easier connectivity with NAS servers/devices and Linux based systems.
  • Multiple improvements to the CD Ripper:
  • The CD Ripper has been revised to support better automated downloading of track information. If you perfer to use an alternative freedb server - MusicBrainz for example - it is now possible to change this from the CD Rippers Options page.
  • When an album cover is downloaded or selected to be applied to the resulting album, the album picture can now be automatically embedded in the resulting files meta data, for the formats that support embedded pictures.
  • We have also improved the automated track numbering logic used in the CD Ripper to ensure that 100% proper metadata always will be set.
  • Minor changes:
  • Automatic migration of settings, templates and databases from Helium Music Manager 8 is now fully supported upon the first start of Helium Music Manager 9
  • Improvements when selecting entries in the Album details view
  • Improvements and stability corrections for offline data synchronization
  • Highly memory and speed optimizations when using the random tracks auto-enqueue mode
  • Corrections to loading of Add audio CD plug-ins
  • Improvements and optimizations related to album handling
  • Updated Hungarian language
  • Updated Swedish language
  • Updated German language
  • Improvements to backuping of user options in the backup tool
  • Improvements to APEv2 tag attached pictures
  • Many improvements and optimizations related to downloading of artist information from the Tag Editors
  • Improvements to error handling when saving tag information in the Advanced Tag Editor
  • Improved error handling when rendering Now Playing pages
  • Compatibility improvements related to synchronization of data to iTunes
  • New version of the AAC playback plugin which solves errors raised when playing specific AAC files
  • Optimizations and improvements to the Add files tool
  • Many improvements related to the plug-ins used when downloading track and artist information from the Tag Editors and the Edit artist information tool
  • Improvements, bug fixes and performance optimizations when playing Smart Playlists
  • Corrections and improvements related to importing of player data
  • Improvements to the automated saving of the Play queue which will strongly reduce the risk of losing any data
  • Performance optimizations of the background caching
  • Improvements to the backup handling of MySQL databases
  • Performance optimizations and compatibility improvements to importing of iTunes databases
  • Performance and stability optimizations when downloading (automated and/or manually) AcoustIDs
  • Improvements and bug corrections related to the Artist view filter
  • Performance and accuracy improvements for identifying duplicates in the Duplicate finder
  • Timeout and stability fixes for the most of the download plug-ins
  • Visual and performance improvements for the Similar artists listing in the Music Browser artists page
  • Corrections and performance improvements when printing album reports with the Print report tool
  • Improvements and optimizations for reading of FLAC files and Vorbis tags
  • Improvements and compatibility optimizations when reading ID3v2 tags
  • Full support for iTunes/dbPowerAmp M4A tag sort fields
  • Optional automated housekeeping of automatic synchronization paths
  • Improvements when using the Split audio file function when only one resulting track is selected for creating
  • Bug corrections when splitting an audio track to multiple tracks of the same length in the Split audio file tool
  • Updated BASS library (audio playback)
  • Performance improvements related to the database housekeeping
  • Improved ID3v2 tag compatibility. Previous naming of Helium Music Manager specific fields are now automatically converted during saving (the old names are still supported) to improve compatibility with other applications and external devices
  • Simplified and quicker auto-downloading of information when using the Add Audio CD tool
  • Multiple improvements to the Internal player when using crossfading

New in Helium 8.6.3 Build 10770 (May 31, 2012)

  • Simplified bug reporting
  • Corrections when browsing uncategorized genres in the Music Explorer
  • Several corrections to APE rating tag handling
  • Sorting implemented for the word replacer list
  • Improved error handling for ID3v2 tag comments
  • Improvements to the Tag Action manager which now ensures that cache files are always created properly
  • Improved error handling to WMA tag reading
  • Various improvements to auto enqueue random functions
  • Album handling improvements for SQL Server Compact databases
  • Corrections to sorting handling in the Music explorer
  • Corrections for Album picture cache
  • Improvements to extraction of multiple artists
  • Improvements for File not found problems with the Tag Editors
  • SQL Server Compact corrections for the Album details view
  • SQL Server Compact corrections for the Music browsers context menu

New in Helium 8.6.2 Build 10750 (May 18, 2012)

  • Performance improvements when browsing the genre node in the Music browser
  • Various SQL Server Compact fixes, related mainly to actions which includes path and/or filename
  • Corrections for exceptions that could occur in the Music browser's startpage
  • Correction for albums and artists could be missing from the lists in the Music browser
  • Search related problems that could occur when searching with all fields from the search view are now handled
  • Extended exception handling when adding album pictures
  • Custom tag frames was not always properly saved for WMA files
  • Browsing favourite tracks with SQL Server Compact databases could generate errors
  • Improved error handling for SQL Server Compact databases in the album handling used when adding/updating tracks
  • Improved handling for volumes for SQL Server Compact databases
  • Corrections and improvements related to genre handling when upgrading databases from earlier Helium Music Manager versions
  • SQL Server Compact database problems when artist ids should be fetched are improved
  • Improved exception handling when deleting duplicate files
  • Updates for the Slovak translation file

New in Helium 8.6.1 Build 10735 (May 11, 2012)

  • Filters are now properly saved/loaded from the database
  • Similar artists was not always returned when downloading artist information
  • Playlist entries could not always be removed
  • Correction for incorrect ratings when working with APE files
  • Scrollbars was missing in the edit artist details windows for certain tabs
  • The Artist view filter did not work fully when country was included in the filter
  • Bug correction for the Music browser genre page which sometimes could throw an exception
  • Corrections to the Music browser startpage (aritmetic overflow exception)
  • Various SQL Server Compact fixes, related mainly to actions which includes path and/or filename
  • Bug correction in the Polish language file

New in Helium 8.5 Build 10466 (Mar 14, 2012)

  • Updated Italian language
  • Updates for Czech language
  • Device synchronization templates are now stored properly
  • Apply commands in the CD-Ripper now works properly
  • Summary and Now Playing panes now properly remembers their collapsed state
  • Adding and removing favourite paths in the Music Explorer

New in Helium 8.4 Build 10291 (Jan 30, 2012)

  • This version of Helium Music Manager contains corrections and improvements since the last release, mainly related to the Music Browser and Device Synchronization.
  • This version also adds some corrections related to tag-reading and writing.

New in Helium 8.4 Build 10280 (Jan 20, 2012)

  • New features:
  • New rendering technique for all Music Browser pages which gives much better browsing speed
  • User interface enhancement enhancements using CSS3 (requires Internet Explorer 9) for Music Browser pages. Many pages are also "cleaned up" and comes with minor new functions and improvements.
  • New Charts page in the Music Browser which allows you to more easily reach charts.
  • The Summary, Now Playing and Windows Gadget are also using the new rendering techniques and also comes with user interface improvements.
  • The Synchronize device tool has been reworked to support a new simpler to use user interface, support for more format conversions as well as a new synchronization mode which will allow you to synchronize data to a new iTunes playlist. This specific iTunes playlist can be synchronized to any device via iTunes, therefore giving support for synchronizationto any iPod/iPhone device no matter of which iOS/iTunes version that are installed.
  • The Capitalizer can now be configured per field, if it should be used as well as which capitalization method that should be used.
  • New comparison mode for the Find duplicates tool plus various improvements.
  • Support for Custom parameters used whilst transcoding files.
  • AAC support in Update Library.
  • Autosynchronization with the Helium Music Streamer
  • Updates to German and Polish languages.
  • Bug-fixes and improvements:
  • The Discogs plugin supports the API version 2, giving much better performance, search results and returned data.
  • The Amazon plugin has been updated so that it properly works again together with various performance optimizations.
  • AKAs are properly downloaded from supported plug-ins.
  • The workflow when downloading multiple Artist informantion has been much improved. Data is now merged so that no prior data is lost plus that the end user has the possibility to exclude artists before the background downloading starts.
  • Improvements for Album Artist handling in the Tag Editor.
  • Multiple improvements in the tagging engine to read "custom" tag-frames from other applications
  • Corrections when Ogg Vorbis file times are read.
  • Performance and bug fixes for SQL Server Compact databases.
  • Equalizer presets are now properly stored and restored between sessions.

New in Helium 8.3 Build 9908 (Nov 11, 2011)

  • This version of Helium Music Manager contains corrections and improvements since the last release (Helium Music Manager 8.2). It also comes with new functionality to easily connect to the Helium Audio Server (Premium and Network versions only).
  • We have also released a updated version of Helium Music Streamer which also comes with bug corrections and minor improvements since the last version was released.

New in Helium 8.2 Build 9837 (Sep 30, 2011)

  • New features:
  • The internal player now has a function which allows you to mark the playing track as a favourite track, favourite album or favourite artist.
  • A new share function is available from the Internal Player which enables you to share the playing track easily to Facebook and Twitter.
  • The CD-Ripper comes with a new simplified interface for selecting the output format, which enables ripping to more formats.
  • The Windows Gadget comes with support for Lyrics.
  • Improvements to the Add files failure dialog: Play, Properties, Delete and Open folder commands are now available.
  • Hungarian translation is now included.
  • Updates to German and Czech languages.
  • Support for MixMeisters BPM tag field.
  • Updated database drivers.
  • Bug-fixes and changes:
  • SQL Server Compact Local ID Compatibility problem which could prevent importing/adding of files is now solved.
  • SQL Server Compact size limitation (256 MB) is now increased to 2047 Mb.
  • Please note that we do not recommend SQL Server Compact databases to be used with more than 35,000 tracks because of performance reasons.
  • SQL Server Compact corrections in the Music Explorer.
  • Unicode fixes for MySQL databases. Sometimes filenames could be incorrectly added to the database when the filename contained unicode characters.
  • Updates to the Music Browser’s album page, which previously could have problems displaying the track list of albums with more than 50 tracks.
  • Corrections when working with Smart Playlists. Sometimes when using randomized results, the content could be repeated.
  • Correction for MusicBrainz PUID generating.
  • Improvements to database importing as well as improvements to the error handling during import operations.
  • The field encoder could incorrectly be available in the Tag Editor, which is now not possible.
  • Improvements to the search view so that it performs less refreshing.

New in Helium 8.1 Build 9780 (Sep 19, 2011)

  • New database engine:
  • The new database engine in Helium Music Manager 8.1 is more stable, better optimized for improved performance and more up-to-date compared to the database engine previously used.
  • We have also decided to move away from the obsolete database format Access to SQL Server Compact 4.0.
  • SQL Server Compact 4.0 is a more lightweight and competent format than Access which also enables users of Helium Music Streamer to operate with the new default database on 64-bit systems, something Access could not do.
  • When using MySQL, the MyODBC layer is now no longer needed, enabling you to have an easier, improved and better integrated MySQL setup with the added benefit of much improved performance.
  • SQL Server also comes with several optimizations which enable database requests to deliver data quicker.
  • The migration process from Access to SQL Server Compact is fully automated and uses the new and improved importing functions.
  • Music Browser improvements:
  • The Music Browser (Premium and Network versions) contains several enhancements such as improved and quicker paging functions, revised statistics page and support for per-user-favourites which is available from the statistics page (this applies specifically to the Network version when multiple users are configured).
  • The new favourites lists enables you to quickly and easily browse your favourite artists, albums and tracks from the Music Browser.
  • Convert to format:
  • Our Convert to format tool has been extended with support for many new formats. The end-user interface has also been simplified to make this process
  • much easier for the end-user.
  • Join audio files:
  • Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with a new tool which allows you to join multiple audio files into one single file.
  • The tool can handle all music formats supported by Helium Music Manager as input formats and can output files into many different formats.
  • The end-user can select if any silence should be added between tracks as well as whether a CUE file should be created.
  • Split audio file:
  • Similar to the new Join audio file tool, Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with a new tool which allows the end-user to split one large audio file into several smaller files. It allows you to create tracks in the following ways:
  • By loading a CUE file
  • Creating a specific number of tracks of equal length
  • Create tracks of the same lengths
  • Create manually defined tracks by specifying start and end offsets
  • Creating tracks from existing subtracks
  • The end-user can select between many different output formats.
  • Favourite folders in the Music Explorer:
  • A end-user can quickly select if a specific folder under Library folders in the Music Explorer view should be a favourite folder.
  • Folders marked as favourites can easily be reached from the right-click menu and are stored per-user in Helium Music Manager's database (Network version).
  • New Helium Music Streamer version:
  • If you own a Helium Music Streamer license you will need to update to the most recent release of the Helium Music Streamer in order to continue using it after you have updated to Helium Music Manager 8.1. You can download Helium Music Streamer from the Customer Center.
  • Windows Gadget:
  • The Windows Gadget (for Windows Vista and Windows 7) which allow you to easily remote control Helium Music Manager is back and graphically revised.
  • The gadget allows end-users to see artist, title, rating, album picture and playing time. Music controls for play/pause and skip between tracks is available.
  • Favourite and Suggested tracks can be accessed as well as artist biography and playing album details. The gadget is now included in Helium Music Manager's installer.
  • Free version improvements:
  • We have enabled the equalizer fully in the free version as well as removed any bitrate limitations when using rip and convert function.

New in Helium 8.0 Build 9348 (Jun 10, 2011)

  • This version contains corrections for the reports report via the Customer Center since the prior release.
  • It contains important corrections related to artist ratings and therefore we recommend all users running any prior release to upgrade to this build.

New in Helium 8.0 Build 9315 (May 17, 2011)

  • This version contains corrections for the reports report via the Customer Center since the prior release.
  • It contains important corrections to adding of files to MySQL databases and therefore we recommend all users running any prior release to upgrade to this build.

New in Helium 8.0 Build 9300 (Apr 30, 2011)

  • Multi-User Support (Network Edition only):
  • Helium Music Manager 8 Network Edition supports multiple users. This enables each user of Helium Music Manager to have individual song ratings, favourites and playlists etc.
  • Multi-user support applies to Helium Music Manager’s Library and individual music track tags, allowing each user to record their own values.
  • The Helium Music Manager Library Multi-user support enables individual user values for the following library based tags:
  • Song ratings
  • Favourites (Artists, Albums and Tracks)
  • Playlists
  • Smart playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Playing history
  • User categories
  • New version of Helium Music Streamer:
  • The new version of the Helium Music Streamer also comes with multi-user support as well as support for new browsing views (years, smart playlists), subtrack support, Last.fm support and much more.
  • Duplicate Finder (Premium and Network version)
  • The Duplicate Finder has been completely rewritten for Helium music Manager 8 and contains a brand new user interface with new hot features such as comparission by MusicBrainz PUIDs and powerfull automated finding.
  • Podcast Support:
  • A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically which can be downloaded and replayed with Helium Music Manager. Common usage of Podcasts is for radio shows and similar events.
  • Sharing (Network Edition only):
  • The Network Edition of Helium Music Manager supports user to user sharing of Playlists, Smart Playlists and Podcasts.
  • When you create a new Smart Playlist, create a new Playlist or add a new Podcast, you get the opportunity to mark it as Shared.
  • A shared item will be accessible for all members in the database.
  • Integrated support for Helium Music Streamer for iOS:
  • Helium Music Manager 8 provides support for version 2.0 of Helium Streamer for iOS by way of specific commands to make synchronizing music to your iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad easier.
  • This works in a similar way to Synchronize Device in that you define a list of music that you wish to synchronize to the iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad device.
  • It differs from Synchronize Device in that once you have defined the list of music to synchronize; you start the actual synchronization from the device itself rather than Helium Music Manager.
  • Enhanced artist information downloading:
  • This has been enhanced to enable the use of MusicBrainz PUID data to obtain artist information (pictures, biography, relations and more) from multiple sources in just one click.

New in Helium 7.3 Build 8705 (Feb 28, 2011)

  • This version contains corrections for the reports report via the Customer Center since the prior release.

New in Helium 7.3 Build 8683 (Dec 17, 2010)

  • This version contains corrections for the reports report via the Customer Center since the prior release. It contains a few important corrections to Smart Playlists and therefore we recommend all users running any prior release to upgrade to this build.

New in Helium 7.3 Build 8675 (Nov 16, 2010)

  • This release corrects the start-up problem with iTunes 10.1 as well as a few other corrections reported via the Customer Center.

New in Helium 7.3 Build 8670 (Nov 5, 2010)

  • This release contains corrections to the following areas:
  • Various corrections reported via the Customer Center since build 8660.

New in Helium 7.3 Build 8660 (Oct 5, 2010)

  • Various corrections reported via the Customer Center since build 8640.
  • Full preparation for Helium Streamer for iPhone.

New in Helium 7.3 Build 8640 (Sep 1, 2010)

  • Previously created MySQL databases were sometimes unable to open.
  • Corrections to Filename to tag when parsing full paths.
  • Corrections to the File Rename Wizard. Paths and filenames are now correctly updated renaming files.

New in Helium 7.3 Build 8625 (Aug 20, 2010)

  • New mode for the Artist view - Album Artist view, which enables you to only browse and view "Album Artists"
  • Mapping of vorbis comment fields - You are now able to specify the tag identifiers that are mapped to a specific Helium Music Manager tag field.
  • This enables you to get your previous ogg & FLAC files perfectly mapped into Helium Music Manager without losing any data. (This feature is available in Premium/Network versions only)
  • New action for the Action Manager - Append field to existing field.
  • Capability to define odd/even row coloring colors
  • New WebService API commands
  • Optimizations to the cache performance when using a database with larger amounts of data
  • Corrections when using Subtracks in searches
  • Corrections to Filename to Tag handling
  • Corrections to the Device Synchronization wizard (duplicate handling plus exist checks)
  • Corrections to the "Various Artists" node in the Music Explorer
  • Minor corrections to multiple artist handling
  • Recording and release year are now used in an "all" search
  • Correction for auto track numbering with WAVE files
  • Correction in Hotkey handling
  • Corrections to USB devices appear/removal notifications
  • Sorting corrections in the Playlist View when removing items

New in Helium 2009.0.0.7856 (Jan 13, 2010)

  • Corrected handling for nested data transactions and MySQL which could cause problems on some systems.
  • Corrections to iPhone synchronization with devices running on firmware 3.x.
  • Some changes in the Volume Path handling when adding custom directories.
  • Some minor corrections to the Last.fm scrobbling engine.
  • Various minor corrections and enhancements.

New in Helium 2009.0.0.7847 (Dec 15, 2009)

  • Important corrections to the Filename to tags tool
  • On rare occasions some tag fields could be lost while using the Filename to tags tool.
  • MySQL trouble with "Too many connections" while deleting files solved
  • Corrections to the Tag Editor when editing full albums
  • When tagging full albums the fields in the album pane will now be correctly saved to tags for all tracks
  • CD ripper ejects after ripping
  • Added support for automatic ejecting of CDs after ripping
  • Corrections in send to album when using MS SQL Server
  • Using the Send to Album feature could cause hangups
  • Corrections to "Attached Pictures (Selected File)" Picture Pane mode
  • The picture pane now shows embedded pictures only when using this setting
  • Various corrections to offline data editing
  • Favourite icon is now properly pained in the Album Browser

New in Helium 2009.0.0.7837 (Dec 10, 2009)

  • Some problems in Helium Music Manager 7 build 7835 (released this monday) was found.
  • The problems stopped Helium Music Manager 7 from starting on computers where Helium Music Manager 7 was not previously installed.
  • Users who have been experiencing problems with starting the program should try this new build which solves these problems.

New in Helium 2009.0.0.7815 (Nov 21, 2009)

  • This version contains corrections for problems reported by users since the last build as well as some minor tweaks and changes.

New in Helium 2009.0.0.7795 (Nov 7, 2009)

  • This version contains corrections for problems reported by users since the last build as well as removal of code that some anti-virus applications misinterpreted as trojan code.

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6945 (Sep 1, 2009)

  • This release is a maintenance release containing corrections since Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6930 was released.
  • Our work with the next major version continues, be sure to keep an eye on our Blog for the latest news.
  • Also note that the summer discount is still valid, purchase Helium Music Manager 2009 for only $29!

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6910 (Jun 16, 2009)

  • improved support for iTunes 8.2. (related to device synchronization)

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6905 (May 20, 2009)

  • This release is a maintenance release containing minor improvements and corrections since

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6860 (Mar 10, 2009)

  • Apple firmware 2.x support (iPod Touch and iPhone).
  • At last we now offer support for new versions of iPhone and iPod Touch (firmware 2.x+)!
  • Revised Album Cover Manager
  • The new album cover manager is a totally rewritten tool which will save hours of work when managing and downloading album covers for large collections.
  • It will give you great control over which pictures that are assigned to your albums as well as a streamlined way to download new, change or remove covers.
  • Language support added in the Last.fm plug-in.
  • This gives you the ability to get information such as biography in your locale.
  • Album Artist Sorting corrections.
  • Key handling in Tag Editor (Sheet) corrected.
  • Drag and drop corrections.
  • Minor corrections in the File Rename Wizard.
  • Corrections to the Discogs plug-in.
  • Corrections to the freedb plug-in.
  • Corrections to Send To Category (allows more than 2 levels).
  • Improvements to the Browse Album in Music Browser toolbar button.

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6775 (Feb 16, 2009)

  • Corrections to the File Rename Wizard when renaming and moving non-audio files.
  • Corrections to template handling for the Tag Editor (Sheet), CD-Ripper, Subtrack Editor.
  • Corrections to importing of iTunes databases.
  • Minor improvements related to streaming music.
  • Minor bug-fixes and adjustments.

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6765 (Feb 7, 2009)

  • Corrections to the Discogs plug-in. Album pictures are now downloaded correctly.
  • Corrections to issues with starting the application if using Polish or Czech language.
  • Corrections to some tools not displaying columns correctly.
  • Corrections to problems importing a previous Helium Music Manager database.
  • LyricsFly plug-in is now included.
  • Corrections to crashes when using the Evil Lyrics plug-in.

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6750 (Feb 2, 2009)

  • The Device Synchronization can be runned in the background to allow you to work whilst synchronizing
  • Support for editing of Lyrics in Tag Editor (Sheet)
  • Support for editing of Biography in Tag Editor (Sheet)
  • Support for editing of Multiple Comments in the Tag Editor (Sheet)
  • Support for editing of Attached Pictures in the Tag Editor (Sheet)
  • New plug-in: LyricsWiki
  • New plug-in: LyricsFly
  • Improved repeat handling in the Internal Player
  • New database field – has lyrics, can be used in lists as well as in queries
  • Improvements for album rating and rating handling on MySQL
  • More tolerant importing of data to a MySQL database
  • Improvements to cut & paste handling in the Tag Editor (Sheet)
  • Corrections when renaming a file from Track Details
  • Send to existing album is now possible to perform from the Album Details, Albm Thumbnails and Coverflow views
  • Send to category is now possible to perform from the Album Details, Albm Thumbnails and Coverflow views
  • Sort order corrections for the Album Browser
  • Incremental search added to the Content Filter
  • New layout for the Last.fm status window
  • Possibility to eject iPod device after synchronization
  • Correction to adding Videos in Music Browser
  • Corrections to refreshes in the tree (My Computer Node)
  • Recursion problem in Music Explorer corrected

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6630 (Dec 29, 2008)

  • Support for MTP/Plays-for-sure/Certified for Windows Vista device synchronization on 64-bit systems.
  • The sidebar gadget now works on 64-bit systems.
  • New plug-in system, smaller, better and faster plug-ins. It also allows for easier development of third-party plug-ins since it is based on the .NET 2.0/3.5 framework. More information for developers will be released shortly.
  • NOTE: We recommend existing users to manually remove old plug-ins before installing this release to avoid ending up with duplicate plug-ins.
  • The plug-ins are found in the Helium Plugins folder. No plug-ins will be removed automatically during the installation"
  • New Last.fm extensions; Love track, add to your Last.fm playlist and tag a playing track with Last.fm tags.
  • External Applications, Browse and Search commands can now be accessed from the main toolbar.
  • The lend out filter in the Album Browser is reintroduced.
  • Better handling of extra paths for the File Browser.
  • Corrections to the remap path tool.
  • Fixes for crashes when rating songs from certain views.
  • Improved handling of BPM tag-fields that do not follow the ID3v2 standards.
  • Minor changes to the FLAC decoding engine.
  • Minor changes to the M4A decoding engine.
  • Improvements to synchronizing of iPod covers.
  • Improved drag 'n' drop handling for album covers. (Applies to multiple views).
  • Improved auto converting of replay gain fields.
  • Improved synchronization of iPod play data back to Helium Music Manager.
  • Improved extraction of album pictures during updating of your Library.
  • Improvements when restoring a backup.
  • Corrections to the Album Details and Coverflow views when using Smart Playlists.
  • Danish language support has been added

New in Helium 2009.0.0.6560 (Nov 26, 2008)

  • Pictures attached to tags are now transferred to iPod devices during a device synchronization
  • Several enhancements when synchronizing Play for sure devices
  • Replay gain values will be converted to iTunNORM fields when converting to MP3 during a device synchronization to an iPod device to preserve volume normalization settings
  • Bugfixes in the Album Details view
  • Minor optimizations, improvements and bug fixes to the Coverflow mode
  • MyODBC v5.1.x will now be used instead of MyODBC v3.5.x
  • Updated language files
  • Updated version of the Last.fm plug-in included
  • Updated version of the Amazon plug-in included
  • New toolbar items are available
  • Performance improvements when using large Album reviews
  • Optimizations when working with pictures attached to tags as album pictures
  • Importing improvements
  • When browsing files not in your database, attached pictures will now be supported in the Pictures Pane

New in Helium 2008 build 6114 (Aug 6, 2008)

  • Corrections when viewing statistics with a Microsoft SQL Server database using a date format other than English
  • Corrections when viewing statistics with an Access database
  • Corrections when browsing to a country page in the Music Information Browser
  • Corrections when writing FLAC tags with attached pictures
  • Corrections when using Sonique visualisation plugins
  • A few textual corrections