The Album Browser

Introduction to the Album Browser

The Album Browser is where you can browse your tracks categorized by album while showing the album picture as a thumbnail and useful information about each album.  

Using the Album Browser

Show the Album Browser using any of the methods below:

  • Click View | Views | Albums from the main menu.
  • Press F10 on your keyboard.
  • Click the Albums button on the shortcut bar in the Left Sidebar
To view the contents of an album, click on the thumbnail of the album, and all tracks assigned to that album will show in the track list.

Help Sections

The Album Filter

The albums in the Album Browser can be filtered, allowing only albums that meet certain criteria to be shown. Click here to read about the Album Filter.

Information for album entries

Each entry in the album browser shows information about the album. The information shown (and the order of the fields) can be customized from the Album Sorting & Grouping dialog. The following information can be shown for each album:

  • Album
    The Album name for the associated album.

  • Artist
    The Artist for the associated album. This will show Various Artists of the album is from more than one artist.

  • Release Year
    The Release Year of the album.

  • Length
    The total playing length of the album.

  • Tracks
    The total number of tracks of the album.

  • Added Date
    The date of when the album was added to your database.

  • Publisher
    The Publisher for the album.

  • Size
    The total size on disk for the album.

  • Lent Out To
    If the album is has a Lent Out status, this will show the date lent out and the name of the person who the album is lent out to. When an album is lent out, a hand icon will overlap the album picture.

  • Number of discs
    Shown in the lower right corner as one disc icon for each disc of the album.

  • Release Type
    Shown in the lower right corner as a Release Type icon.

  • Album Rating
    Shown as star icons with a numeric representation of 0.5 to 5 (including half stars). This rating is calculated from the rating of the tracks in the album.

Customizing the Album Browser

The Album Browser can be customized in several ways:

The selection checkbox

If enabled, or previously used, there is a checkbox to the left of each album entry where you can manually select multiple albums. You can also use the Select menu on the Album Browser toolbar (if visible) or from the context menu to select multiple albums. The following tasks can be performed on multiple albums at once: The checkbox can be enabled by using any of the commands under the Select option in the context menu (right click on any album) or you can enable it manually from Options.

The filtering toolbar

Above the thumbnail view are some controls that handle filtering of albums.



The filters are divided into four sections:

  • Release Type filter. When clicked, contains the following options:

    • Albums

    • Anthologies

    • Audio Books

    • Bootlegs

    • Compilations

    • DVD

    • Live Performances

    • Samplers

    • Single/Maxi/EP's

    • Sound Effects

    • Soundtracks

    • Videos

    • No Release Type

    • Select All

    • Clear Selection

    When any of the Release Types above are selected, only albums with the selected Release Types will be shown in the Album Browser. When any Release Type is selected, the Release Type drop down list will be highlighted so that you will be able to see that a filter is set.

    To clear the Release Type filter, click on Clear Selection.

    Click here to learn about release types.

  • Album Rating filter. When clicked, this contains a list of Album Ratings from No Rating (no stars) to Awesome (5 stars).

    Select an Album Rating to show album with this Album Rating in the list of albums.

    Use the     Select All option to select all Album Ratings, and the Clear Selection option to clear the selection of Album Ratings.

  • Pictures filter, containing the following buttons:

    • Show albums with assigned pictures.

    • Show albums without assigned pictures.

  • Lent out filter, containing the following buttons:

    • Show albums that are lent out

    • Show albums that are not lent out.

Note:
  • All buttons can be toggled on and off.
  • Enabling all buttons in one section gives the same result as if no buttons are selected.

Removing albums

Removing one album

  1. From the Album Browser, right click an album and select Remove.

Removing multiple albums

  1. From the Album Browser, select the albums you want to remove by selecting the check boxes on the left side of each album.
  2. Right-click any of the selected albums and select Delete Selected Album.

The Album Browser toolbar

Below the thumbnail view is a toolbar with some useful controls.

  • Edit
    Will open the selected album for edit in the Tag Editor (Spreadsheet Mode).

  • Thumbnail size menu:
    The thumbnails in the Album Browser can be shown in four different sizes. Depending on which size you choose, more or less album information will be shown to the right of the album picture. The currently used size is highlighted.

    • 32*32 pixels

    • 64*64 pixels

    • 96*96 pixels

    • 128*128 pixels

  • Album Sorting and Grouping menu:
    Contains pre-defined templates for displaying different fields in the album browser and their sorting and grouping options.

    The     Customize menu option will launch the Album Sorting and Grouping dialog, allowing you to modify the sorting and grouping of the album browser.

  • Pictures menu:

    • Album Cover Manager
      Launches the Album Cover Manager, allowing you to easily get an overview of all your album pictures, as well as replacing, editing and downloading of new album pictures.

    • Add/Update Picture
      Lets you manually browse for an album picture to assign to the album

    • Edit Original Picture
      Will open the assigned picture (if any) in the default application for image editing.

    • Reload Picture
      Will reload the thumbnail from the original picture. This option is useful if you have edited the album picture from outside of Helium Music Manager and want to refresh the thumbnail to reflect the original picture.

    • Remove Picture
      Will remove the thumbnail attached to the album. This will not remove the original picture.

    • View Original Picture
      Will open the assigned picture (if any) in the default application for image viewing.

    • Save Album Picture to Tags
      Will save the album picture to the tags of the files in the album. You will get the option to save either the thumbnail (128*128 pixels) or the entire original sized picture to the tags.

    • Load Album Picture from Tags
      Will load the album picture (if available) from the files in the album.

    • Download Album Information
      Will launch the Download Information dialog, allowing you to download album information and/or pictures.

  • Enqueue menu:

    • Enqueue and Play
      Will enqueue the selected album in the Active Playlist pane and start playing the first track. If a track was previously playing in the Active Playlist, the album will be enqueued after this track.

    • Enqueue Next
      Will enqueue the selected album after the currently playing song in the Active Playlist pane. This option will not start playing the album.

    • Enqueue Last
      Will enqueue the selected album at the end of the Active Playlist pane. This option will not start playing the album.

  • Tools menu:

    • Edit Tags
      Will open the selected album in the Tag Editor.

    • Edit Tags (Spreadsheet Mode)
      Will open the selected album in the Tag Editor (Spreadsheet Mode)

    • Rename Album
      Will open a dialog allowing you to modify the name of the selected album. Click       OK to save the changes.

    • Change Publisher

    • Edit Album Review

    • Burn Audio CD

    • Analyze MP3 Files

    • Synchronize Database to Files

  • Browse & Search menu:

  • Select menu:

    • Select All
      Will select all albums

    • Clear Selection
      Will clear the current selection

    • Invert Selection
      Will invert the current selection

    • Select Albums with Pictures
      Will select all albums with assigned pictures

    • Select Albums without Pictures
      Will select all albums without an assigned picture

    • Select Albums Starting with
      Will select all albums which have titles starting with a specified string value

    • Select Albums Containing
      Will select all albums which have titles containing a specified string value

    •  

  • Remove selected album
    Will remove the selected album. You will get the option to remove the album only from the database, or from the database and your computer.

  • Expand/Collapse
    Will expand or collapse the selected group (if grouping is used). You can define a grouping the Album Sorting and Grouping dialog.

The Album Browser context menu

If you right click an album there is a menu with the same options as on the Album Browser toolbar. There are also two additional menus, containing some tools:

  • Edit Album Information
    Will launch the Tag Editor (Spreadsheet Mode) with the tracks of the selected album.

  • Download Album Information
    Will show the Download Information dialog, allowing you to download album pictures and other album related information.

  • Pictures menu

    • Add/Update Picture
      Will open a dialog, allowing you to locate the album picture on your computer. Browse for the album picture and click the Open button to assign it to the selected album. A thumbnailed version of the picture will be created and stored in your database. This picture is always saved as a 128*128 pixels jpeg image.

    • Edit Original Picture
      Will open the original album picture (full size image on your computer) in the default program for picture editing. This lets you modify images easily.

    • Reload Picture
      Will reload the original album picture (full size image on your computer) and re-create a 128*128 pixels thumbnail in the database. This is good to use when the picture has been edited (cropped or similar) from outside of Helium Music Manager.

    • Remove Picture
      Will remove the thumbnail picture from the database. This will not remove the original full size album picture stored on your computer or in your tags.

    • View Original Picture
      Will open the original album picture (full size image on your computer) in the default program for picture viewing.

    • Album Cover Manager
      Will start the Album Cover Manager, which allows easy updating of album pictures.

    • Save Album Picture to Tags
      Will save the album picture to the tags of the files in the selected album. You will get the option to save either the full size image on your computer or the 128*128 pixels thumbnail image to your tags.

    • Load Album Picture from Tags
      Will try to load an album picture stored in any file in the selected album. Loading of album pictures in tags can be automated upon adding files to the database by enabling this setting in Options.

    • Save Album Picture to Album Folder
      Will save the 128*128 pixels thumbnail image to your album folder. This can be automated while downloading and adding album pictures by enabling the       Auto copy album pictures setting on the Album Pictures page in Options.

  • Tools menu

    • Edit Tags
      Will open all tracks in the selected album in the Tag Editor.

    • Edit Album Review
      Will open the Edit Album Review dialog for the selected album.

    • Rename Album
      Opens a dialog where you can edit the name of the selected album. Type a name in the New name edit box and click OK to apply the changes. All tracks in the album will be tagged with the new Album name.

    • Change Publisher
      Opens a dialog letting you edit the Publisher for the selected album. Type a Publisher in the Publisher edit box and click OK to apply the changes. All tracks in the album will be tagged with the new Publisher.

    • Burn Audio CD
      Will add the tracks in the selected album to the Burn Audio CD tool for burning to an Audio CD.

    • Analyze MP3 Files
      Will start analyzing the MP3 files in the selected album in the MP3 Analyzer. Note that only MP3 files are able to being analyzed. If there are no MP3 files in the selected album, nothing will happen.

    • Synchronize Database to Files
      Will load the files in the selected album in the Synchronize Database Data to Files tool.

    • Remap Path
      Will open the Remap Path tool, with the selected album's path (if available) pre-selected.

  • Enqueue and Play menu

    • Enqueue and Play
      Will enqueue the selected album to the Active Playlist and start playing it. If a track is playing (track marked with an orange background color in the Active Playlist) while executing this action, the files from the album will be added directly after the currently playing track in the Active Playlist. If no track is currently marked with an orange background color, the album will be enqueued at the end of the Active Playlist.

    • Enqueue Next
      Will enqueue the selected album after the currently playing track (marked with an orange background color - if any) to the Active Playlist. If no track is currently marked with an orange background color, the album will be enqueued at the end of the Active Playlist.

    • Enqueue Last
      Will enqueue the selected album at the end of the Active Playlist.

  • Set Rating menu
    Will save the selected Rating to all tracks in the selected album.

  • Set Release Type menu
    Will save the selected Release Type to all tracks in the selected album.

  • Set Popularity menu
    Will save the selected Popularity to all tracks in the selected album.

  • Select menu

  • Browse & Search menu

  • Thumbnail Size menu:
    The thumbnails in the Album Browser can be shown in four different sizes. Depending on which size you choose, more or less album information will be shown to the right of the album picture. The currently used size is highlighted.

    • 32*32 pixels

    • 64*64 pixels

    • 96*96 pixels

    • 128*128 pixels

  • Album Sorting and Grouping menu:
    Contains pre-defined templates for displaying different fields in the album browser and their sorting and grouping options.

    The     Customize menu option will launch the Album Sorting and Grouping dialog, allowing you to modify the sorting and grouping of the album browser.

  • Lend Out
    Will open a dialog letting you specify the name of the person that this album is lent out to. Type a name in the     Name box and click OK to apply. When an album is lent out, a hand icon will overlap the album picture. You can display the name of the person that has lent an album together with the lent out date by including the Lent Out To field in the album list. This is configured from the Album Sorting and Grouping dialog.

  • Not Lent Out
    Will remove any previous information about an album being lent out. This option should be used when an album is returned to you.

  • Remove
    Opens a dialog asking for what you want to remove. You can choose between removing the album only from the database or also from the computer. There is also an option to remove the folder where the album resides in, together with all other files. Caution should be taken when using this option.

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