This version is a service release which mainly focus on stability, component upgrades and some new features.
Major changes in this version
Updated PostgreSQL drivers
Updated MySQL drivers
Updated SQLite drives
Updated visual components
When using the Discogs plugin, it’s possible to find an album release by searching with barcode. In the search query, enter “bc:” followed by the bardcode in the artist field to search using a specific barcode. You can also search with catalog number by entering “cat:” followed by the catalog number in the artist field.
Possibility to download tracks using the CD ripper
Possibility to change the color on the playing waveform
Correction to the iTunes plugin so that it properly downloads pictures and artist information again
Corrections to the Remove tags action in the Action manager
Bug fix when stopping a subtrack from playback
Remap path for PostgreSQL works properly
Apart from the above major fixes, many minor things have been stabilized and optimized.
This new release contains improvements and bug fixes found since the last Helium 16 release.
It also contains many “under the hood” changes which improves stability for many underlying features as well as some major component upgrades.
New feature: Charts page available from statistics. The charts page offers both rolling charts and interval based charts for artists, albums and tracks.
New feature: Top countries with a detail page added to statistics
New feature: Possibility to add custom paths in the My Computer view, for example network paths
New feature: Create date column for file added in the My Computer view
New feature: Improved compatibility for catalog number not following the ID3v2 standards
Update: Czech translation
Update: Database components
Update: UI components
Bugfix: Track gain and album gain not properly added to the library
Bugfix: The default tag editor was not earlier used when working from Artist details
Bugfix: Default password for party mode could stop work in some situations
Bugfix: Sublabel could be incorrectly read in label details
Apart from the above listed fixes a lot of other non-visible changes are included in this version.
Working with the beta version
Please note that this version is a beta, meaning that all tools and features are not 100% tested.
This version will NOT upgrade the database so the comaptibility remains with the official Helium 16 version.
Please backup your database and settings before installing this version.
Today we are proud to present the first official Helium 16 release.
Major news in Helium 16
Support for PostgreSQL databases. PostgreSQL is an open-source database known for its stability and performance. Read more about it from here: https://www.postgresql.org/
The My Computer view is no longer limited to a flat list of files. It now comes with a folder tree as in Windows Explorer plus other new features and improvements.
Possibility to configure which fields that should be active in Tag Editor & CD Ripper’s album pane. It’s also possible to control the order of the fields as well as support for more fields has been added.
Highly redesigned and improved download pictures tools.
A general user-interface polish for better accessibility and smoother workflows.
Use the new party-mode option to ensure that nobody fiddles with your play queue during a party.
User variables are introduced which allows the end user to define a variable and a replacement for example %music% = “c:\music\albums” or %sh% = “abbrevation for artist”. User variables are used as a post replacement pass when editing tags (if the capitalizer is active), for all tools that use the Tag to filename engine and for destination paths in the CD Ripper, Rename files tool and the converter tool.
The CD Ripper has been improved with template support for Save to folder and Filename format so that you can be sure to always use the standard formats you have designed. The tool will also present a live-updated preview of the resulting filename, and with the possibility to continue to rip another CD without the need of restarting the tool.
Multiple improvements has been introduced to template controls: Usage of mono-spaced fonts for better readability, new fields as well as auto-complete which will suggest options whilst writing a template.
Playlists and the playlists view has been improved with filters, created date per playlist and a timestamp when a specific song was added to a playlist.
Apart from the above changes a lot of smaller improvements and corrections have also been added to this new release.
To read about the changes in detail, please visit the following links:
If you purchased Helium 15 less than a year ago you will get the Helium 16 update for free.
We will send out e-mail with license information to these customers. You can already find your new license in the Customer Center if you are eligible for the free upgrade.
To accompany Helium 16, we are also releasing Helium Streamer 6 which is fully compatible with all new features in Helium 16. Helium Streamer 6 is needed if you want instant access to your entire music library wherever you are. It has an interface both for web browsers and for iOS and Android apps.
If you purchased Helium Streamer 5 less than a year ago you will get the Helium Streamer 6 update for free.
We will send out e-mail with license information to these customers. You can already find your new license in the Customer Center if you are eligible for the free upgrade.
User variables are introduced which allows the end user to define a variable and a replacement for example %music% = “c:\music\albums” or %sh% = “abbrevation for artist”. User variables are used as a post replacement pass when editing tags (if the capitalizer is active), for all tools that use the Tag to filename engine and for destination paths in the CD-ripper, Rename files tool and the converter tool. User variables can be configured from Options > Variables.
The Releases View comes with a new view format – detailed list. This format will let you browse your album in a format similar to a track list together with filtering and multi selection operations.
The CD-Ripper comes with support for auto-saving of previously used Save to folder templates and Filename format templates to easier reuse different and previously used templates. The tool will also display a live-updated preview for the Save to folder and Filename format templates. If you type a part of a known code, for example {{a, Helium will display a dropdown with suggested codes together with a description so that you design your template better and quicker. Mono-spaced fonts will be used by default in template editing controls for better readability (can be deactivated from Options). Another small but useful feature that has been added to the CD-Ripper is the possibility to continue to rip another CD directly after a CD is ripped without restarting the tool.
It is possible to hide items in the view navigation bar. It is also possible to display the Active track view in the navigation bar.
A filter has been introduced to the Playlist and Smart Playlists view to quickly filter items by name:
The track list in the Playlists view can now be filtered as other tracklists.
Title, artist and album in the Active track view now contains hyperlinks to quickly navigate to a specific view:
When using auto-calculate BPM when playing a track, the resulting BPM is now stored into the Library and to Tags.
Custom sorting of the track list are preserved after tagging.
Various user interface fixes.
The Music Explorer nodes are properly refreshed after adding of files to the library.
When editing a Rename files template, the folders pane preview is properly refreshed.
The playlists view is properly restored after a restart if it was the active view when Helium was closed.
Better failover for WAV files with incorrect tags.
Corrections to the navigation bar.
Tracklist alternate row coloring fixes.
Apart from the above fixes we have also fixes other issues find whilst regression testing Helium 16 beta 1.
Helium 16 is now available as a first beta with many new changes and improvements.
Major new features
Support for PostgreSQLdatabases. PostgreSQL are free, easy to install, powerful and scalable as well as very performant.
The My Computer view is no longer limited to a specific files list,it now has a full tree to the left allowing much more flexibility when browsing files in and not in your library. It’s also possible to pin favourite folders to be able to access them more quickly.
The Music Explorer comes with support for new root-node types:
Tempo
Preference
My Computer – Including pinned favourite folders
Relations – Browse through an artists similar artists, related artists and all other relation types
Unavailable tracks
Possibility to configure which fields that should be active and the order of them in the Tag Editor and CD-Ripper album pane. Some new editing fields are also available.
Highly redesigned and improved download pictures tools (artist and albums). The tools are more effecient and easy to work with plus that they support new features such as saving selected pictures to tags.
New plugin: iTunes plugin with support for downloading of album images, artist images and artist information
A general user interface polish for better accessibility and smoother workflows
Options are better organized
Large parts of Heliums database access code was rewritten for this version which increased both performance and stability.
Use Helium for your parties and prevent that users mashes up your Play queue. Use the new Party mode feature to lock the Heliums tools and still allow users to browse the collection and queue tracks last in the play queue.
Support for up to 10 user defined columns.
Quickly browse similar artists and albums from the Music Explorer
Minor features
Move tracks to album reintroduced, available from Track lists
You can configure if the graphic positionbar should be auto hidden unless a song is playing or is paused.
New user interface when selecting artists and albums from various tools
Import an existing library from MediaMonkey5
If an import fails, Helium will revert to a new clean database
Possibility to quickly select an artist using a powerful graphic user interface when editing artist relations.
Copy folder will execute in a background thread to avoid blocking Helium
Improvements to the Music Brainz plugin
Improvements to subtrack handling
A new script which will send the tracks currently shown to a printer
Working with the beta version
Please note that this version is a beta, meaning that all tools and features are not 100% tested.
These beta versions will install into a specific folder so that you can have both Helium 15 and 16 installed at the same time.
Any databases that are opened with Helium 16 will be usable in Helium 15 since they will not be upgraded.
Please backup your database and settings before installing this version.
Helium Streamer has been updated to work well with Helium 16. Support for PostgreSQL should be fully working, but please remember that his is a first beta release.
Powerful inplace tag editing in the track lists; the most features from the Tag Editor are directly available from the track lists, without the need of opening a Tag Editor. Click here to read more about this feature.
Bits per sample added as a database field and a visual column.
Run action manager scripts directly from the menu/a toolbutton.
Multiple improvements to the re-rip tool.
New variables added to the Tag to filename tool.
Translation updates.
Improvements for reading several audio formats.
Possibility to paste pictures from clipboard in the Tag Editor and the Advanced Tag Editor.
It’s possible to select channel encoding mode for MP3 files.
Click the links below to read more about the updates in detail:
Imploded Software blog 