Helium Remote
Helium Remote is a client iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch application that enables you to remotely control Helium Music Manager (Premium and Network versions only).
This application is ideal if you want to control Helium Music Manager away from your PC. It uses the Wi-Fi connection to receive playing information and to send control commands to Helium Music Manager from anywhere in and around your home. You can therefore become a remote DJ and control music for your parties without having to be near to your PC.
Helium Remote interacts with Helium Music Manager's in-built Web Service to control the playing of music tracks in the current Play Queue. It will not play any sound on the iPhone device as the Helium Remote App is just functioning as a remote control. It enables the playback of Playlists, Searches [New in version 1.1], Suggested Tracks and User Favourites. Details of the currently playing track are shown; as is information about the playing track's artist.
The application is currently available with English, Swedish, German and Czech translations.
NEW FOR VERSION 1.2
Czech translation now included and minor corrections.
NEW FEATURES FOR VERSION 1.1
New for version 1.1 is asynchronous downloading of data, support for iOS 4, ability to search for tracks, enqueuing of tracks, album and artists views for selected track and lyrics display. The full list of features in version 1.1 of Helium remote is shown in the section below.
FEATURES
- Easily control Helium Music Manager from your sofa
- Stop, Play or Pause your music
- Select Next or Previous track
- Full control of music volume
- Full control of track playback position
- Album artwork and details shown for playing track
- Lyrics shown for the playing track [New in version 1.1]
- Browse the Play Queue and play tracks
- Search Helium Music Manager's library for albums, artists, titles, genre, recording years, release years and publishers - play or enqueue found tracks
[Search is new in version 1.1] - Browse Playlists and play them
- Browse Suggested Tracks and play or enqueue them [enqueuing is new in version 1.1]
- Browse Favourite Tracks and play or enqueue them [enqueuing is new in version 1.1]
- View selected track's album and play or enqueue track's album or individual album tracks [New in version 1.1]
- View selected track's artist and play or enqueue artist's albums or individual album tracks [New in version 1.1]
- Browse the playing artist€™s information
- Support for iOS 4 [new in version 1.1]
- Asynchronous downloading of data (so that the User Interface will not be blocked)
[new in version 1.1] - Comprehensive help included in application and settings
- Translations: English, Swedish, German
- No additional software to Helium Music Manager required on PC
REQUIREMENTS
- This Application requires Helium Music Manager (Premium or Network) version 7.2 or greater.
It will not work with the free version of Helium Music Manager. - Wi-Fi connection to the PC running Helium Music Manager
- Runs on iPhone OS 3.1 or greater (including iOS 4).
- It is designed as a client iPhone/iPod Touch Application but will also run on the iPad.
SETUP
Helium Music Manager - Options (on Windows PC)
- Open Options from Tools > Options menu
- Scroll to the bottom in the left list and select Helium Web Service
(available under the Advanced header) - Setup the Port to use (default is 8080)
- Click Start to start the server
Helium Remote - Settings (on iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch)
- Open Settings on the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch device
- Select Helium Remote (or Remote if device OS version < 3.2)
- Enter the Address of the Windows PC running Helium Music Manager 7.2
(e.g. 192.168.0.2) - Enter the Port (as defined in Helium Music Manager - Options, step 3 above).
- If required, adjust Lost Timeout. This value specifies how soon after Helium remote loses connection to the Helium Music Manager server should it warn about the situation (default is 3 seconds). This allows for occasional lost connections to the server whilst playing back music.
USAGE
Start Helium Remote and it will connect to Helium Music Manager.
Note: If the address of the Windows PC running Helium Music Manager has not been set in Settings, an error message will be shown. If Helium remote cannot make a connection then a Retry message will be shown. Check that Helium Music Manager is running and that there are no network problems (e.g. check Wi-Fi is enabled). Also, re-check Helium Music Manager€™s Options (on Windows PC) and Helium Remote€™s Settings on the iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch (see Setup section above).
On initial entry, Helium Remote will display the Now Playing view. If you are running iOS 4 then Helium Remote will display the view that was last active.
You can tab between the different views which are described in more detail below:
Now Playing
This tab provides the player controls: Previous Track, Play/Pause, Stop, Next Track, Volume slider and Position slider.
When a track is playing the following information is shown (if present):
artist, track title, album name, genre, release year, rating, favourite and the album cover picture.
Additionally, if the view is rotated to landscape (as shown in the image above), the publisher (if present) and track format details are shown.
Tapping the album cover will hide the track's information (in portrait orientation only); tapping the album cover again will reveal the track's information.
The elapsed time and time remaining for the track are shown either side of the position slider.
If lyrics are present in the playing track, an " i " icon is shown in the bottom right of the album cover (in portrait orientation only). Tapping this icon will reveal the track's lyrics which can be scrolled; tapping the icon again will hide the track's lyrics.
Play Queue
This tab lists the current contents of Helium Music Manager€™s play queue with the current track highlighted.
The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down.
Tapping a track's play icon will tell Helium Music Manager to start playing the selected track and to continue playing the following tracks.
Any changes made to the Play Queue using Helium Music Manager will be reflected in Helium Remote.
At the bottom of the list of tracks is a set of action icons: View Album and View Artist icons (that are enabled when a track is selected that is in Helium Music Manager's library) and a Clear entire Play Queue icon.
View Album 
Tapping the View Album icon displays album details for the selected track (album cover, album title, album artist and release year).
Tapping the album's play icon will enqueue and play the album. Tapping the album's enqueue icon will enqueue all the album's tracks at the end of the Play Queue.
Listed beneath the album details are all the album's tracks. If the album is a multi-CD then the tracks are listed for each CD. The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down. Tapping a track's play icon will enqueue and play the track. Tapping a track's enqueue icon will enqueue the track at the end of the Play Queue.
At the bottom of the list of tracks is a View Artist icon that is enabled when a track is selected. Tapping this icon displays the artist details for the selected track (see View Artist).
Tap the Close button to exit the view.
View Artist 
Tapping the View Artist icon displays artist details for the selected track: artist picture, artist name, country, number of tracks featuring the artist and artist's average rating.
Listed beneath the artist details are the artist's albums which are split into the following categories: Albums, Singles and Appearances. The list of albums can be scrolled up and down. Tapping the play icon will enqueue and play the album. Tapping the enqueue icon will enqueue all the album's tracks at the end of the Play Queue.
At the bottom of the list of albums is a View Album icon that is enabled when an album is selected. Tapping this icon displays the album details for the selected album (see View Album).
Tap the Close button to exit the view.
Clear entire Play Queue 
Tapping the Clear entire Play Queue icon will display a message asking you to confirm the action. Reply 'Yes' or 'No'.
Search
This tab enables Helium Music Manager's library to be searched for tracks. Tap the search field to enter a search value and then tap Search to invoke Helium Music Manager's library search. A list of tracks matching the search criteria is returned.
The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down. Tapping a track's play icon will enqueue and play the track. Tapping a track's enqueue icon will enqueue the track at the end of the Play Queue.
At the bottom of the list of tracks is a set of action icons: See View Album and View Artist (the icons are enabled when a track is selected that is in Helium Music Manager's library) and also see Search Options below.
Search Options 
Search options can be set by tapping the Options button.
Search Type can be set to: All fields, Album, Artist, Title, Genre, Recording Year, Release Year or Publisher. Searches can be restricted by setting the Exact Matches option. Save the Search Options by tapping the Save button or Cancel to leave the Search Options at their previous values. Once saved, these options are remembered for subsequent uses of Helium Remote.
Artist Info
This tab shows artist information (if available) for the current playing track.
In the top right corner, a single-headed icon indicates a single artist, whilst a double-headed icon indicates a group/band.
The following information is shown (if present):
artist name, artist picture, born name (if single artist), country, born/died (if single artist), formed/disbanded (if group/band).
The webpage for the artist (if present) can be clicked to link to the artist in the Safari web browser (this will end the Helium Remote App).
Finally, if present, the artist biography is shown.
More
Tapping the More tab displays more "tabs" as follows:
Playlists
This tab lists all static Playlists defined in Helium Music Manager.
The list of playlists can be scrolled up and down. Tapping a playlist's play icon will enqueue and play the playlist's tracks.
Favourite Tracks
This tab lists Helium Music Manager€™s user favourite tracks (as defined in Helium Music Manager€™s 'Music Explorer > Favourite> Tracks' node).
The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down. Tapping a track's play icon will enqueue and play the track. Tapping a track's enqueue icon will enqueue the track at the end of the Play Queue.
At the bottom of the list of tracks are two action icons: See View Album and View Artist (the icons are enabled when a track is selected that is in Helium Music Manager's library).
Suggested Tracks
This tab lists Helium Music Manager€™s suggested tracks based on the currently playing track.
The list of tracks can be scrolled up and down. Tapping a track's play icon will enqueue and play the track. Tapping a track's enqueue icon will enqueue the track at the end of the Play Queue.
At the bottom of the list of tracks are two action icons: See View Album and View Artist (the icons are enabled when a track is selected that is in Helium Music Manager's library).
Help
This tab provides a summary of the information available on this page.
