While installing the program, make sure that you use the Evaluation version option when asked. Customers who are eligible for the free upgrade will receive their license key first when the beta period has ended.
Also note that the help files in the program are not currently up-to-date and there are several other things that might yet change within the program (new icons will be added and old ones will be replaced for example).
Please note that the first time you use your iPod device(s) with Vista (UAC active) you must run Helium Music Manager as an administrator (Run As Administrator).
As soon as Helium Music Manager has seen the device i.e. it is listed in the Music Explorer, you can close Helium Music Manager and start it normally.
This needs to be done once for each new iPod that you wish to use with Helium Music Manager.
Bugs for this version should be reported using the integrated reporting tool in Helium Music Manager.
Important notice about Helium Music Manager 2009!
Customers who has bought Helium Music Manager or upgraded their version on or after the 17th of September 2008 will get Helium Music Manager 2009 for free. You will NOT be given any license key at this point, though. License keys for version 2009 will be sent out AFTER the beta period is finished and the full version has been released.
The current beta version will run until the 30th of October, allowing you to use it fully within this time period. We will be releasing updates in good time before your version will expire, meaning that you are able to make the full switch to version 2009 already, if wanted.
About this release
A major goal for this version has been stability, usability and visual appearance. Apart from all the new improvements, we have spent many days and nights running tests in different environments. This testing has helped us to deliver what we think is the most stable and robust version of Helium Music Manager so far! However, as usual, we would now like to expand the testing by asking you to beta test the new version before we finally release this new version of Helium Music Manager.
This version contains a lot of new functions that we hope you, as an existing or new customer, will enjoy. The most relevant major and minor new functions are described below. We have kept the list short to increase readability and not to just list features as there are very many changes to this version. The mentioned features are either new unique features or requested features and enhancements.
If you are interested in helping us translating Helium Music Manager into either a not yet supported language or to help us revise an existing language, please contact us using the form at http://www.helium-music-manager.com/sup ... tactus.php and we will give you more instructions. We will of course give users that help us translating Helium Music Manager free licenses!
Read on to find out about the most exciting news below. We hope that you will enjoy this new version!
NOTE: If you purchase or upgrade to Helium Music Manager 2008 from today, you are guaranteed a free upgrade to Helium Music Manager 2009 when the full version is released.
News in Helium Music Manager 2009
Major news
- • Entirely redesigned graphical user interface (GUI). We have hired a very competent art-director who has designed the new GUI, everything from colors, visual templates and icons. The new GUI also supports large and system fonts much better.
• iPod support: You can now synchronize iPod devices (with Firmware less than 2.0) directly from Helium Music Manager. You can also browse your device directly from the Music Explorer (previously known as the Music Library), manage playlists, copy files from and to your device as well as perfect handling of On-The-Go playlists. All iPod devices (Shuffle, Mini, 3G, 4G (Photo), 5G (Video), 6G (Classic, Nano), iPhone, iTouch) with Firmware less than 2.0 are supported.
• New view - Album Details: This view enables you to view your music as album covers together with their associated tracks at the same times.
• New view - Album Carousel: This view enables you to view your music as album covers in a manner similar to iTunes coverflow. The tracks for the selected album cover are shown in the Track List
• Capability added to use Winamp DSP plug-ins. These plug-ins can be used when playing music.
• An improved Music Browser: The Music Browser (previously known as the Music Information Browser) has now got new colors and some layout changes to match the new GUI design. The content has also been improved in some areas for better readability. Another new feature is embedded video support in the Music Browser; you can now link YouTube videos directly to an artist and have them displayed and played in the Music Browser. The search in the Music Browser has also been extended to work in a similar fashion to the Search View (normal mode).
• Unique and customizable toolbars have been added for most views. Each view (except the Music Browser) can have its own customizable toolbar.
• Once again we have made some significant updates to the Device Synchronization feature. We have added iPod synchronization, improved the picture handling when synchronizing Plays For Sure devices and also added the capability to always transcode tracks. This means for example that you can force the transcoding of high quality MP3 file (320kBps) down to 128kBps when synchronizing to your device/folder. When synchronizing folder contents we have added the capability to convert and rename synchronized images to enable improved support with software such as Rockbox. Another change worthy of mention is improved compatibility when transcoding files and tags. A new feature, that may help to improve working speed, is that you can now import your File Rename Wizard templates into the Device Synchronization tool so that you do not need to redefine a complex renaming structure.
• A full screen mode has been introduced which allows you to run Helium Music Manager 2009 in “real” full screen – this is ideal when using it on Full HD TVs or similar situations.
Minor news
- • We have added a lot of workflow improvements to many of the tools and views in the application. The intention being to make the user experience better, quicker and easier. This is something that we have worked hard at and this covers too many areas of the application to be mentioned in full detail.
• Another usability improvement we have been working hard with is the restructuring of the menus. You will now find that the menus are more consistent and much easier to navigate through.
• Icon cleanup: we have removed unnecessary icons to reduce clutter in the GUI.
• New terminology: Some views and terms have been changed to be more precise and to make them easier to understand.
• Improved compatibility with iTunes tags: this relates to various sorting fields, the BPM field and Album Artist.
• It is now possible to exclude drives and/or paths in the “My Computer” view.
• It is possible to rename album images to “folder” instead of the previous fixed method which always used “Artist – Album”
• A new node, Entire Library, has been added to the Music Explorer.
• It is now possibly to quickly group albums in the Album Thumbnails view by clicking on a column.
• It is now possible to rename an artist/group directly from the Artists Browser and/or the Music Browser. The rename operation updates all occurrences in your library as well as music file tags.
• It is possible to quickly mark selected items in the Artist Browser as either an Artist or an Artist/Group with a single menu click.
• When you add Audio CDs to your Helium Music Manager library, a duplicate check is now performed to avoid adding duplicate Audio CDs to your library.
• Remapping of files now updates links to album pictures on disk.
• Compatibility has been extended with dbPowerAmp (and related applications) FLAC tag frames.
• A new mode for the Pictures pane: you can now select to show the album picture from the selected file/selected album.
