User Interface

Playlist Browser

The Playlist view offers a great place to store your favourite playlists, Smart Playlists and Webradio Channels.

Showing the Playlist view

Show the Playlist Browser by clicking View > Views > Playlists.

Using the Playlist view

The Playlist Browser consists of a tree control containing three different types of root nodes:

Smart Playlists
Playlists
Radio Channels

About Smart Playlists

A Smart Playlists is a playlist that follows a certain criterion. While a regular Playlist consists of tracks manually added to the specific playlist, a Smart Playlist is automatically regenerated every time you view it.

Some examples of Smart Playlists could be any of the following:

Tracks played over a month ago
This Smart Playlist might show all tracks that you have not played for over a month.
New Tracks
This Smart Playlist might show tracks added to the database within the last few days.
Tracks I like
This Smart Playlist might show tracks with a certain rating (at least four stars for example).
Pop music
This Smart Playlist might show only tracks with a certain genre (Pop for example).

As you may imagine, the possibilities are near endless for Smart Playlists.

Creating a new Smart Playlist

Select either Smart Playlists root, My Smart Playlists or a child to this node. Then right click and select New Smart Playlist... from the context menu. If you have enabled the bottom toolbars you can click the New button and select New Smart Playlist... from the drop-down menu.

The Smart Playlist editor is similar to the Query Editor. Click here to read more about the Query Editor.

Modifying Smart Playlists

To modify an existing Smart Playlist, locate the Smart Playlist, right click it and select Edit Smart Playlist... from the context menu. If you have enabled the bottom toolbars you can click the Edit button.

The Smart Playlist editor is similar to the Query Editor. Click here to read more about the Query Editor.

Other Smart Playlist functions

You can organize your Smart Playlists in folders to get them better structured. Create a new folder by first selecting either the My Smart Playlist root or by selecting a existing Smart Playlist folder. After that, right click and select New Folder... from the context menu. Move an existing Smart Playlist into a folder by selecting the Smart Playlist and then drag and drop it to the folder.

Click the Export Smart Playlists menu item to export one or more Smart Playlists into "standard" Playlists. Click here to read more about exporting Smart Playlists.

About Playlists

In summary, Playlists are static lists of songs, available in your database. If you are aware of the term M3U/PLS playlists, we can say that Playlists in Helium Music Manager are almost the same as these. There are no limitations to how many Playlists you have in your database, although you cannot store lists with duplicate names.

Creating a new Playlist

Select either Playlists root, My Playlists or a child to this node. Then right click and select New Playlist from the context menu. If you have enabled the bottom toolbars you can click the New button and select New Playlist from the drop-down menu.

Modifying Playlists

To modify an existing Playlist, locate the Playlist, right click it and select Edit Playlist... from the context menu. If you have enabled the bottom toolbars you can click the Edit button. Please note that this enables you to edit the Name and Description of the Playlist, not the contents. The contents are modified from Helium Music Managers Track List and playlist menus.

Other Playlist functions

You can organize your Playlists in folders to make them more structured. Create a new folder by first selecting either the My Playlist root or by selecting an existing Playlist folder. After that, right click and select New Folder... from the context menu. Move an existing Playlist into a folder by selecting the Playlist and then drag and drop it to the folder.

From the context menu, a few other functions are available that may need to be explained more in detail:

Randomize Playlist will randomize the order of the tracks in the selected playlist. Please note that the order in the Playlist will be permanently changed.
Add files/folders... allows you to select files and folders from disc and add the files and folder contents to the selected playlist. Folder contents will be added recursively. Any tracks that do not exist in the Database will be automatically added when performing this command.
Import Playlists... imports playlists from disc. Click here to read more about importing playlists.
Export Playlist... exports the selected Playlist into a "standard" Playlist. Click here to read more about exporting a Playlist.

About Radio Channels

A Radio Channel in Helium Music Manager is a link to an external web radio source, such as those which can be found at www.di.fm for example.

Adding a Radio Channel

Select either Radio Channels root, My Radio Channels or a child to this node. Then right click and select Add Webradio Channel... from the context menu. If you have enabled the bottom toolbars you can click the New button and select Add Webradio Channel... from the drop-down menu.

Modifying a Radio Channel

To modify an existing Webradio Channel, locate the Webradio Channel right click it and select Edit Webradio Channel... from the context menu. If you have enabled the bottom toolbars you can click the Edit button and select Edit Webradio Channel... from the drop-down menu.