Now playing is back!

The Now playing view will be back in our next release of Helium 12 – with more powerful features than before.

Some of the features worth to mention are:

•  Browse to connected database pictures as well as pictures from tags. Hover the mouse over the picture to see detailed information about the image resolution and more.
• Quick access to tools
• Collapsible panes with:
  • Suggested tracks
  • Similar artists (shown as thumbnails)
  • Favourite tracks
  • Alums from artists
• Full support for the dark and the light theme
• Biography and lyrics will be shown in separate tabs if they exist for the file currently playing

Click here to try it and the other new improvements today!

Please note that this version is still in a beta state and may contain untested features.

 

Minor Helium 12 update now available

A new minor update for Helium 12 is now available.

This update contains the following major changes:

• New job queueing logic which allows tagging whilst playing and having queued jobs
• French language added
• Click on the player time to toggle between elapsed/remaining time
• Proper updating of play counter and last played in the Play queue and track lists
• Track list sorting is properly applied in the Music Explorer, Tracks view
• Changed default sorting for Artist details > All tracks
• More context driven statusbars
• Size available as a column in track lists
• The playlists a file is contained in is now shown in Propeties
• Performance optimizations in the Music Explorer tree
• Possibility to resize the left-bar in the Playlists view
• Statistics on artist detail pages will now properly scroll when neccesary
• Properly opening of files with foreign characters in the Analyse tool
• Bug fix when manual enque mode could be lost in the Play queue after tagging
• Bug fix related to writing of FLAC attached picture descriptions with foreign characters and incorrect text encoding
• Bug fixes and minor improvements related to edit mode in track lists
• Bug fixes related to saving of recording year in MP3 files
• Bug fixes related to the Smart playlists select by functions
• Bug fixes related to locking of multiple pictures in the Advanced tag editor
• Reset button properly shows in Music Explorer albums view when using a filter
• Visual improvements in the Rename tool

As usual a lot of more minor things which has been reported to us has also been corrected.

We recommend all users to update to this version.

Click here to download Helium 12.1 (build 14399)

 

Helium 12.1 now available!

Welcome to the official release of Helium 12.1.

It’s been just over a month since we released the first version of Helium 12 and since then we have been working hard with new requested improvements, compatibility and stability fixes.

Major improvements in Helium 12.1

• Possibility to toggle between tracklist and albums in the Music explorer and tracks view
• Play queue can be docked in the right sidebar. When docked in the right sidebar, you can drag tracks from tracklist to the Play queue as well as albums
  
• Several improvements to importing of Helium 11 databases
• Several improvements to handle incorrect ID3v2 tag-frames
• Possibility to edit lookup data used in Tag editors from Options
• Release type is available in renaming and user defined columns
• Three lines of playing information which can be fully customized
  
• Possibility to capitalize all text fields using the active capitalization rules via the script engine
• Possibility to set rating to one or more tracks in a tracklist via the context menu.
• Possibility to filter contents of tracklists from Music explorer, Genre view, Year view and search results.
• Possibility to save album picture to tags
• New language, Spanish
• Possibility to define what a user column in a track list should link to. Available link types are:
  -Artist detail page (main artist)
  -Genre
  -Label details
  -Release details
  -Track details
• New statistics, Releases by release year and tracks by recording year
  
• File properties will now show attached pictures
• Possibility to execute a specific script via a shortcut
• Possibility to inactivate detail page statistics. Useful to improve performance when using larger Sql Compact databases
• Album collections filter available from the Albums view. An album can be set to belong to one or more collections, for example “To be tagged”, “To be listened to”, “High quality” via the context menu for an album. A new button located to the top-right in the Albums view allows you to quickly set which collection to be viewed as a static filter. You can still combine this filter with additional filters.
  
• Possibility to set Release type for all tracks of an album via the context menu
• Possibility to set Release type for the selected tracks via the context menu
• Added date is available as a selectable tracklist column
• New iOS applications of Helium Streamer and Helium Remote with full iOS 10 support
• Possibility to edit album reviews and view them from album details
• Grouping available as a column in track lists

Major bugfixes in Helium 12.1

• Possible crashes in smart playlists if certain arguments were set
• Corrections to alternation coloring in Playlists and Smart playlists
• Selecting tracks from album details was not in correct order
• Corrections to filename collisions in the converter and the CD-ripper
• Template editing in Rename tool should now react to new templates
• It was previously not possible to use Apply/Apply down on the Album version field in the Tag editor
• Importing of playlist folders and playlists in folders works correct
• User columns did not show data in the Playlist view

For a detailed list of all improvements and bug fixes, please see the prior beta posts:

• https://implodedsoftware.wordpress.com/2016/09/04/new-beta-version-of-helium-12-available/
• https://implodedsoftware.wordpress.com/2016/09/10/new-beta-version-of-helium-12-available-2/
• https://implodedsoftware.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/helium-12-0-3-beta-now-available/
• https://implodedsoftware.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/helium-12-0-4-beta-now-available/
• https://implodedsoftware.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/helium-12-0-5-beta-now-available/

Whats planned next?

We will continue to implement new features, we are mostly working on features requested via the forums.

If you miss a certain function or think that some function can be improved, please let us and the community know via our forum.
Click this here to open the feature requests forum.

As earlier we will release open beta versions every other week or when enough functions and fixes are available for testing via our announcement page, Facebook and LinkedIn.

We have no exact date set when Helium 12.2 will be released, but be sure to follow the above channels to be updated about what’s going on.

News in Streamer 3

• Improvements to replaying. HTML5 mode is now being used by default.
• Improvements to replaying of subtracks.
• Improvements to the search function.
• Possibility to add folders in playlists and smart playlists.
• Bugfix when adding music to collection. It was previously possible to get duplicates in the database if MySQL/MariaDb was being used.
• Many minor enhancements and improvements.

Download the new versions

• Click here to download Helium 12.1
• Click here to download Streamer 3.1

 

Helium 12.0.5 beta now available

Welcome to a new beta version of Helium 12!

This beta version contains a new improvements and bug fixes.
Our work with improvements to the application is continuing, follow the forum to see what we are currently are working on.

Before starting

Please note that this beta version will upgrade your database so it is recommended that you create a backup before installing this version. When upgraded, the database will not be compatible with the current version of Helium Streamer. A download link to an revised Streamer version can be found below.

News in this release

• Improvement Album collections filter available from the Albums view. An album can be set to belong to one or more collections, for example “To be tagged”, “To be listened to”, “High quality” via the context menu for an album. A new button located to the top-right in the Albums view allows you to quickly set which collection to be viewed as a static filter. You can still combine this filter with additional filters.
• Improvement Possibility to set Release type for all tracks of an album via the context menu
• Improvement Possibility to set Release type for the selected tracks via the context menu
• Improvement Possibility to open album details for an album from a tracklist in album mode, either by double-clicking it or by pressing Enter.
• Improvement Added date is available as a selectable tracklist column
  Improvement New iOS applications of Helium Streamer and Helium Remote with full iOS 10 support
• Improvement Possibility to control height for Lyrics, Biography and Picture controls in the Advanced Tag Editor
• Improvement Default timeout values for Sql Server are increased
• Improvement Possibility to drag one or more folders from Windows explorer and drop them into the Add to library window so that folders does not need to be added one at a time
• Improvement A library is validated during opening to ensure that no tables and keys are missing
• Bugfix Correct hiding/showing of the right sidebar when the Play queue is docked/not docked
• Bugfix Alternate row coloring fixes for artist details > all tracks
• Bugfix The artist details > albums view should no longer jump to top when an item is selected

The biggest change in this verison is album collections, which allows a very quick way to sort albums in your collection in a simple and quick way.
More features related to album collections are planned, for example support in our mobile applications and the Streamer.

Apart from the improvements and fixes above we have also handled issues reported via the forum and the automatic bug reporting tool.

Please note that this is a beta version meaning that all tools and features are not 100% tested.

Click here to download this beta version of Helium 12.0.5

Click here to download the most recent version of Streamer 3

Updated iOS apps available!

Helium Streamer and Helium Remote has been updated with iOS 10 support and some other minor fixes.

Download the applications from the links below:

• Helium Streamer for iOS
• Helium Remote for iOS

Helium 12.0.4 beta now available

Welcome to a new beta version of Helium 12!

This beta version contains a new improvements and bug fixes.
Our work with improvements to the application is continuing, follow the forum to see what we are currently are working on.

News in this release

• Improvement Possibility to dock the Play queue in the right sidebar
• Improvement Optimizations when navigating back and forth to the album view
• Improvement Optimizations to the Artist details view, the page is no longer fully scrollable for better performance
• Improvement Optimizations to loading of all tracks from an artist on Artist details
• Improvement Image on Album details, Artist details and Label details now uses the selected thumbnail size
• Improvement File properties will now show attached pictures
• Improvement Possibility to execute a specific script via a shortcut
• Improvement Possibility to inactivate detail page statistics. Useful to improve performance when using larger Sql Compact databases
• Improvement User column links are available from Album details and Play queue
• Improvement Translation fixes
• Improvement Possibility to define how undefined release types should be ordered
• Bugfix Importing of playlist folders and playlists in folders works correct
• Bugfix When gropuing on rating in a tracklist the group header is properly displayed
• Bugfix Capitalization fixes during first launch of Advanced Tag Editor
• Bugfix Corrected a crash which could occur when dragging a column in the Duplicate finder
• Bugfix User columns did not show data in the Playlist view
• Bugfix Corrections when selecting a Smart playlist
• Bugfix Drop indicator is properly removed in the Play queue when cancelling a drag operation
• Bugfix Corrections to alternation coloring in Playlists and Smart playlists

Apart from the improvements and fixes above we have also handled issues reported via the forum and the automatic bug reporting tool. A big thanks to everybody that has helped us to report issues.

Please note that this is a beta version meaning that all tools and features are not 100% tested.

Click here to download this beta version of Helium 12.0.4

Helium 12.0.3 beta now available

Welcome to a new beta version of Helium 12!

This beta version contains a new improvements and bug fixes.
Our work with improvements to the application is continuing, follow the forum to see what we are currently are working on.

News in this release:

• Improvement Play queue can be docked in the right sidebar. When docked in the right sidebar, you can drag tracks from tracklist to the Play queue as well as albums.
  
• Improvement Picture filter available in Labels view
• Improvement Improvements to dynamic tagging in the Advanced Tag Editor
• Bug fix Capitalization correctly handles words starting with numbers
• Improvement Possibility to define what a user column in a track list should link to. Available link types are:
  -Artist detail page (main artist)
  -Genre
  -Label details
  -Release details
  -Track details
• Improvement Backup of Sql Server databases requires user access due to Windows UAC handling
• Bug fix CD information could be overwritten in the Tag editor when downloading track information
• Improvement New statistics:
  
• Improvement Save ID3v2 album artist tag with full external compatibility. Some external applications only handles album artists defined in the TPE2 frame (Band/orchestra). When this option is enabled (default) the band/orchestra field will not be enabled.
• Improvement Possibility to quickly exit Tag editor with ESC (tap twice if you are in edit mode)
• Improvement Natural sorting used for grouping of CDs in album details to avoid sortings like:
  -CD 1
  -CD 10
  -CD 11
  -CD 2
  -CD 3
• Improvement Natural sorting used on Music Explorer nodes
• Bug fix It was previously not possible to use Apply/Apply down on the Album version field in the Tag editor
• Improvement New language, Spanish
• Improvement Updates to several components

Apart from the improvements and fixes above we have also handled issues reported via the forum and the automatic bug reporting tool. A big thanks to everybody that has helped us to report issues.

Please note that this is a beta version meaning that all tools and features are not 100% tested.

Click here to download this beta version of Helium 12.0.3