Helium Music Manager (News)

Beta 4 of Helium Music Manager 7.1 now released

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:28:19 +0100

A new beta release is now available. This release fixes issues reported since the last beta release. It also contains an updated version of the Filename to Tag tool which now fully supports unicode.

Current customers can access this release from the Customer Center.

Helium Music Manager 7.1 beta 3

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:26:58 +0100

A third version of the Helium Music Manager 7.1 beta has been released.

This release fixes a few important bugs in the previous beta releases so we recommend all customers running previous beta releases to update to this release.

As with the previous release this version is available for download from within the Customer Center.

Read more about this beta version in the Helium Music Manager 7.1 beta news article.

Helium Music Manager 7.1 beta now available!

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:54:53 +0100

The first beta version of Helium Music Manager 7.1 is now available from the Customer Center for all our current customers of the Premium and Network editions of Helium Music Manager 7. Once logged in to the Customer Center, click the 'Beta section' link to get access to the beta version.

Important notices about Helium Music Manager 7.1

Licenses

Helium Music Manager 7.1 will be a free update for all existing customers!
NOTE: You will need to re-enter your license details when installing this beta version.

Beta Testing

First a health warning, this is a beta version and so you are very strongly recommended to only test using copies of your database(s) and music.
Bugs for this version should be reported using the integrated reporting tool in Helium Music Manager and not via the user to user forum.
Please note that the online documentation is not fully updated to reflect this new version.

The current beta version will run until the 22th of March 2010, allowing you to use it fully within this time period.

We will be releasing further updates in good time which will extend the current beta version expiry date, meaning that you will be able to continue to test the beta version beyond this date.

About this release

The major goal for this version has been to improve the speed in Helium Music Manager as well as improving workflows and improving stability.
We have been working hard on this release the last couple of months. 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.

Now read on to find out the exciting news about the most relevant major and minor new functions in Helium Music Manager 7.1.

Major news for Helium Music Manager 7.1

We have kept the list short to increase readability.

New cache system which results in a much faster application
Playlist handling when synchronizing to iPod devices are improved and bug fixed
Improved refresh logic, full refreshes will not occur as often as before
Multiple improvements to the File Rename Wizard
Color coding in the Tag Editor to track manual changes, filename to tag changes or changes from downloaded data
New album artist node in the Music Explorer
New Favourite subnodes in the Music Explorer
Hover commands in the Artist view
Sort element highlighting in the Album browser
Taskbar commands and progress indicators now available on Windows 7 operating systems
Improved user interface and logic when downloading multiple lyrics and artist information
Possibility to search for PUIDs

Apart from the above listed functions, there have been many minor improvements and corrections implemented.

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7856 - maintenance release

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:41:12 +0100

Some bugs have been corrected as well as some small improvements made in this new release. A short list of the most important updates are listed below:

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.

Our work with optimizations continues, more information about this will follow soon.

This release is available for download and purchase on the Download page.

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7847 - maintenance release

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:51:29 +0100

Some bugs have been smashes as well as some small improvements made in this new release. A short list of the most important updates are listed below:

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

This release is available for download and purchase on the Download page.

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7837 - important update

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:41:06 +0100

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.

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7835 now available

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:28:19 +0100

An updated version of Helium Music Manager 7 is now available.

The most important changes are listed below:

Download problems in the Tag Editor (Advanced) when downloading information for releases with more tracks than the selected number of tracks.
Corrections to downloading information with Tag Editor (Advanced)
Several corrections for the Filename to Tags tool (templates and saving of tag data)
Improved handling of broken AAC files (relates to adding of files, updating of files as well as the My Computer view)
Improvements to player buffer changes while playing a song
Improvements to the delete tags custom action
Several corrections and minor improvements to the Album Details view (based upon different bug reports from users)
Minor corrections to synchronizing with iPod devices (user specific reports)
Minor improvements to UNC handling in My Folders
Corrections to license handling in the installation (Proper Unicode support)
Updates to the LyricsFly plug-in
Proper disabling of player buttons when Winamp is selected as player
Improved error handling when removing Web-radio stations
Minor corrections to downloading of Album pictures from the Album Browser
Minor corrections in the Download Album Picture tool
Proper updating of items in the Play Queue when files are renamed
Minor improvements to the Remap Path tool

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7815 now available!

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:16:37 +0100

An updated version of Helium Music Manager 7 is now available.

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

We recommend all users to update to this version.

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7795 now available!

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:51:01 +0100

An updated version of Helium Music Manager 7 is now available.

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.

We recommend all users to upgrade to this version.

Updated Helium Music Manager 7 release now available

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:26:15 +0100

We have now released an updated Helium Music Manager 7 version which corrects the problem with "Beta version expired" some of our users received.

This version also contains a few other corrections, we therefore recommend all users of Helium Music Manager 7 to update to this release.

Helium Music Manager 7 now available!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:33:37 +0200

The best just got better!

We are very proud to present Helium Music Manager 7!

Helium Music Manager 7 is now available and has been rated by our existing customers as the most complete and stable version released so far!

Helium Music Manager 7 contains a complete upgrade of our technical platform which has resulted in full Unicode support and highly increased stability.
On top of this we have redesigned our main tools to give you a better and more easy to use workflow.

Another big change in this version is improved plug-in usage;
results from multiple plug-ins will now be returned when you query any plug-in service such as downloading of track information, artist information, lyrics or pictures.

Major news

Full Unicode support. You can now use Helium Music Manager to store contents in any language. Everything from the user interface to the database and tags will now support contents in Unicode.
We are very proud to present our new product, Helium Music Streamer, which is the perfect add-on to Helium Music Manager.
Helium Music Streamer allows you to access, browse and play your music from any web browser. It links seamlessly with Helium Music Manager and comes with a simple yet powerful user interface that is easy for family members to use.

Click this link to learn more about Helium Music Streamer.
Revised and improved workflow for our main tools. You will find that more common operations will perform more smooth and easily. This can be anything from tagging to browsing in views plus improved refresh logic.
Highly improved stability. During the Unicode migration we changed many of our core components in the underlying platform which has drastically improved stability. During this migration we tested all functions in Helium Music Manager to see that they do what they are meant to do as well as ensuring that they fully support Unicode. We also optimized several of the tools to give a better overall performance and usability.
Our new plug-in system automates your searches for track information, album information, lyrics and pictures. New tools have been created for this purpose which now use multiple plug-ins in one operation. The results are presented in a very easy way to help you to find the information you are looking for more quickly. Support for downloading of track data using acoustic fingerprints for single tracks has also been added. As before, our plug-in system is an open architecture which it is possible for you to contribute to. We will soon release an updated plug-in SDK including documentation and source code to several of our plug-ins.
MusicBrainz support has been integrated into the Tag Editor to enable one-click fingerprinting and downloading of track information.
Support for the newest iPod devices with Firmware 3.x has been added. This means that you can easily synchronize your iPod, iPhone 3G(S) and iPod touch with Helium Music Manager 7.
Improved sort handling: Helium Music Manager's unique sort order system has been extended so that you can now choose how sort information is presented in all the views. In addition, tools like the Tag Editor have had Auto-Sort buttons added to speed up the entering of sort field information.
The picture handling in Helium Music Manager (album and artist pictures) has been much improved by giving you better control of how added and downloaded pictures should be managed. Two very efficient tools are available for downloading and managing of album and artist pictures.
Open importing system. Using our new plug-in based importing system, you can very easily migrate data from other applications into Helium Music Manager. As for our download plug-ins, this is also a system which allows external developers to create their own importing plug-ins. A full SDK with source code for the available importers will be released soon.
Several improvements to the Music Explorer have been made. One of the more interesting is that you now have five totally customizable “User Defined” nodes you can use to create custom groupings of your data.
A tagging new mode, Album Mode, has been added to the Tag Editor (previously known as Tag Editor (Spreadsheet). When you open files in the Tag Editor that come from the same album, a column setup that is optimized for album tagging is automatically loaded and a new Album Information pane is shown. From the Album Information pane you are able to fill in album specific fields (such as album, album artist, publisher and more) and their values are automatically added to all files in the album. You are also able to quickly add, update and download an album picture directly from this pane.
A new Filename to Tags tool has been introduced. This new tool allows you to very easily generate filenames from tags and edit them in a way similar to the Tag Editor. This “mode” of the Filename to Tags tool can either be started separately or directly from inside the Tag Editor.
A new Graphic Equalizer has been added.

Minor news

Support for the WAVPack format has been added. You can now tag, manage and play your WAVPack files with Helium Music Manager 7.
New support for favorites. You can easily mark a track, album or artist as a favorite. Your favorites can easily be accessed from the Music Explorer and they are also shown in views.
Improved sorting and grouping handling in the Artist Browser.
New printable reports based on artist information. (Pictures, information and grouping)
Improved compatibility with iTunes sorting tags.
Minor restructuring of the buttons in the Internal Player. You can now hover over the buttons with your mouse to get quick-access to many of the functions related to a specific button.
More logical restructurings to menus have been done to give you an even more consistent feel and clean look.
The Active Playlist has been renamed to “Play Queue”.
The Tag Editor (Spreadsheet) is now renamed to “Tag Editor” and the old “Tag Editor” is now renamed to “Tag Editor (Advanced)”
Several hundreds of minor improvements, changes and fixes.

Owners of Helium Music Manager 2009 who purchased the version on October the 19th 2008 (a year ago) or later will get a free upgrade to Helium Music Manager 7!

Owners of previous versions of Helium Music Manager can upgrade for a discounted price. Visit the Customer Center for more information about upgrading.

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7660 now released

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:00:03 +0200

A new beta version of Helium Music Manager 7 (build 7660) has been released.

The new version is available from the Customer Center for existing customers and contains several improvements and corrections since the last beta version was released.
iPod support has also been updated to support newer firmwares.

We are also releasing a public beta version (free edition) so that any user, not neccesarily registered, will be able to test our new upcoming version!

Remember that you can earn a free license if you help us to translate Helium Music Manager 7 into your language. Contact us for more details.

We recommend all users which are using the prior beta version to update to this version.

Kind regards,

Intermedia Software

Helium Music Manager 7 build 7550 now released

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:06:01 +0200

A new beta version of Helium Music Manager 7 (build 7550) has been released.

The new version is available from the Customer Center for existing customers and contains several improvements and corrections since the last beta versionwas released.

Polish and Czech languages has also been updated. Remember that you can earn a free license if you help us to translate Helium Music Manager 7 into your language. Contact us for more details.

We recommend all users which are using the prior beta version to update to this version.

Kind regards,

Intermedia Software

Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6945 now available

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:29:06 +0200

Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6945 is now available. 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! Note that customers who have bought Helium Music Manager or upgraded their version on or after the 17th of August 2009 will also get Helium Music Manager 7 for free.

New beta version of Helium Music Manager 7 available!

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:50:49 +0200

A new beta version of Helium Music Manager 7 (build 7452) has been released.

The new version is available from the Customer Center and contains several corrections since the last weeks beta was released.
We recommend all users which are using the prior beta version (Helium Music Manager 7, build 7410) to update to this version.

Kind regards, Intermedia Software

Full Unicode support and many other improvements!

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:06:09 +0200

The first beta version of Helium Music Manager 7 is now available from the Customer Center for all our current customers. Once logged in to the Customer Center, click the 'Beta section' link to get access to the beta version.

Important notices about Helium Music Manager 7

Licenses

Customers who have bought Helium Music Manager or upgraded their version on or after the 17th of August 2009 will get Helium Music Manager 7 for free.

Beta Testing

First a health warning, this is a beta version and so you are very strongly recommended to only test using copies of your database(s) and music.
The Helium Music Manager 7 database is not backward compatible with Helium Music Manager 2009's database.
Bugs for this version should be reported using the integrated reporting tool in Helium Music Manager.

Please note that the online documentation is not currently up-to-date and there are several other things that might yet change within the program.

The current beta version will run until the 30th of September 2009, allowing you to use it fully within this time period.
We will be releasing further updates in good time which will extend the current beta version expiry date, meaning that you will be able to continue to test the beta version beyond this date.

About this release

The major goal for this version has been Unicode support, increased stability, better workflows and simplified appearance.

We have been working hard on this release the last couple of months. 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.
Now read on to find out the exciting news about the most relevant major and minor new functions in Helium Music Manager 7.

As you will see this new version contains a lot of new functions that we hope you, as an existing or new customer, will enjoy!

Major news for Helium Music Manager 7

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.

Full Unicode support for the database and tags as well as to the user interface. This allows users with foreign languages to be able to use Helium Music Manager.
Revised and improved workflow for many of our tools. You will find that the more common operations will perform more smoothly and easily.
Highly improved stability and better performance. During the Unicode migration we tested all the functions and workflows in the application to ensure that they do what they are meant to do as well as ensuring that they are Unicode compatible. Some parts of the application have been optimized to give a better overall impression.
New and improved tools. We have introduced a few new tools and many improvements to existing tools which makes them more powerful and quicker to use.
New plug-in system. The new plug-in system automates your searches and makes it much more easy for you to find the information you are looking for.
Open importing system. Migrate easily from other systems with the new importing system.

Apart from the above listed functions, there have been hundreds of minor improvements and corrections implemented.

New maintenance release available and summer discount

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:53:09 +0200

Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6930 is now available.

This release is a maintenance release containing corrections since Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6910 was released.

It also contains a few minor improvements, possibility to pad track and disc numbers less than 10 with a zero is one of the more requested improvements that's implemented in this release.
This feature can be activated from Options > Tags > Pad track/cd with a leading zero.

Our work with the next major version continues, be sure to keep an eye on our Blog for the latest news.

We have also introduced a summer discount, Helium Music Manager 2009 can now be purchased for only $29! If you purchase Helium Music Manager 2009 now (after the 17th of August)

New site design and updated content

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:13:41 +0200

Today we launch our new site which contains an updated, more easy-to-navigate layout.

We also took the oportunity to add more in-depth information about Helium Music Manager. We have divided all features in the program into six categories, Import, Tag, Manage, Explore, Play and On-the-go. The thought is that this will make it easier to understand the breadth and depth of the application.

All previous content is still here such as the complete documentation, plug-in and extras areas as well as the frequently asked questions and our user forum.

Improved device synchronization when iTunes 8.2 is installed

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:21:25 +0200

Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6910 has been released.

This release is a maintenance release containing minor improvements and corrections since Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6905 was release.

The most important important change is improved support for iTunes 8.2. (related to device synchronization)

Click here to download this release.

Internet Explorer 8 support and improvements to iPod synchronization.

Tue, 19 May 2009 17:52:43 +0200

Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6905 has been released.

This release is a maintenance release containing minor improvements and corrections since Helium Music Manager 2009 build 6860 was release.

The most important changes are listed below:

Internet Explorer 8 support.
Support for lyrics synchronization to iPod devices.
Proper multiple playlist iPod synchronization.
Correction and improvements in the print report tool.
Several minor updates and corrections in the device synchronization tool.
Minor corrections in the File Rename Wizard
Various corrections and minor changes to several areas of the application.

Click here to download this release.