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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.

About Podcasts

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically which can be downloaded and replayed with Helium Music Manager. Common usage of Podcasts is for radio shows and similar events.

Podcasts can be placed in folders to allow better grouping/overview possibilities. In Helium Music Manager Network Edition, Podcasts are unique per user and can be shared between different users. To add a new folder, right mouse click over the Podcast node or an existing Podcast folder node (except the Shared folder node), click New Folder... and enter the new folder name and click OK. Folders can be renamed and deleted in a similar manner using the Rename Folder... and Delete Folder options.

Adding a Podcast

To add a Podcast, follow the following steps:

Identify a Podcast source, for example http://podcasts.flaix.fr/corstenscountdown
In the Playlists View, right mouse click on the Podcasts node and click Add Podcast...
Enter the Podcast Link identified in step 1 (above) and click the Load button to load the metadata exposed by the source. Data such as title, description and image will be automatically loaded. You can modify the Title and Description if required.
In the Network Edition you can tick the Shared box to share the Podcast with other users of Helium Music Manager (see here).
Click OK to save the Podcast

An added Podcast is shown as its own node under the Podcasts node.

Select a Podcast entry to view the available and downloaded episodes.

The most recent episode will be downloaded automatically (if the option Automatically download new Podcast episodes is ticked).

You can download multiple available episodes by selecting them in the Podcasts episodes available list and then right mouse click and select Download from the context menu. Downloaded items will be automatically added to the Library. While a Podcast download is in progress, it will be shown as downloading in the status bar. You can click Cancel in the status bar to cancel the download.

A Podcast entry which has been downloaded and is available on your computer will be listed in the Track Details and all available tools can be used on it.

The context menu (Right mouse click) for a podcast in the Podcast node gives you the options:

Add Podcast... to add a new podcast as already described.
Edit Podcast... to edit an existing Podcast. A similar dialogue to Add Podcast is shown, make your required changes and click OK.
Rescan to scan the podcast for new episodes.
Remove Podcast to remove the podcast. A dialogue is shown where you can choose to either Remove Podcast only and let files remain in Library and on disc or Remove Podcast, Library and disc items. Click OK to confirm deletion.
Enqueue and Play, Enqueue Next or Enqueue Last operate as normal.