Version history for Helium Music Manager

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Changes for v8.3 - v8.4

New features
New rendering technique for all Music Browser pages which gives much better browsing speed
User interface enhancement enhancements using CSS3 (requires Internet Explorer 9) for Music Browser pages. Many pages are also "cleaned up" and comes with minor new functions and improvements.
New Charts page in the Music Browser which allows you to more easily reach charts.
The Summary, Now Playing and Windows Gadget are also using the new rendering techniques and also comes with user interface improvements.
The Synchronize device tool has been reworked to support a new simpler to use user interface, support for more format conversions as well as a new synchronization mode which will allow you to synchronize data to a new iTunes playlist. This specific iTunes playlist can be synchronized to any device via iTunes, therefore giving support for synchronizationto any iPod/iPhone device no matter of which iOS/iTunes version that are installed.
The Capitalizer can now be configured per field, if it should be used as well as which capitalization method that should be used.
New comparison mode for the Find duplicates tool plus various improvements.
Support for Custom parameters used whilst transcoding files.
AAC support in Update Library.
Autosynchronization with the Helium Music Streamer
Updates to German and Polish languages.
Bug-fixes and improvements
The Discogs plugin supports the API version 2, giving much better performance, search results and returned data.
The Amazon plugin has been updated so that it properly works again together with various performance optimizations.
AKAs are properly downloaded from supported plug-ins.
The workflow when downloading multiple Artist informantion has been much improved. Data is now merged so that no prior data is lost plus that the end user has the possibility to exclude artists before the background downloading starts.
Improvements for Album Artist handling in the Tag Editor.
Multiple improvements in the tagging engine to read "custom" tag-frames from other applications
Corrections when Ogg Vorbis file times are read.
Performance and bug fixes for SQL Server Compact databases.
Equalizer presets are now properly stored and restored between sessions.

Changes for v8.2 - v8.3

This version of Helium Music Manager contains corrections and improvements since the last release (Helium Music Manager 8.2). It also comes with new functionality to easily connect to the Helium Audio Server (Premium and Network versions only).

Changes for v8.1 - v8.2

New features
The internal player now has a function which allows you to mark the playing track as a favourite track, favourite album or favourite artist.
A new share function is available from the Internal Player which enables you to share the playing track easily to Facebook and Twitter.
The CD-Ripper comes with a new simplified interface for selecting the output format, which enables ripping to more formats.
The Windows Gadget comes with support for Lyrics.
Improvements to the Add files failure dialog: Play, Properties, Delete and Open folder commands are now available.
Hungarian translation is now included.
Updates to German and Czech languages.
Support for MixMeisters BPM tag field.
Updated database drivers.
Bug-fixes and changes
SQL Server Compact Local ID Compatibility problem which could prevent importing/adding of files is now solved.
SQL Server Compact size limitation (256 MB) is now increased to 2047 Mb.
Please note that we do not recommend SQL Server Compact databases to be used with more than 35,000 tracks because of performance reasons.
SQL Server Compact corrections in the Music Explorer.
Unicode fixes for MySQL databases. Sometimes filenames could be incorrectly added to the database when the filename contained unicode characters.
Updates to the Music Browser?s album page, which previously could have problems displaying the track list of albums with more than 50 tracks.
Corrections when working with Smart Playlists. Sometimes when using randomized results, the content could be repeated.
Correction for MusicBrainz PUID generating.
Improvements to database importing as well as improvements to the error handling during import operations.
The field encoder could incorrectly be available in the Tag Editor, which is now not possible.
Improvements to the search view so that it performs less refreshing.

Changes for v8.0 Build 9315 - v8.1

New database engine
The new database engine in Helium Music Manager 8.1 is more stable, better optimized for improved performance and more up-to-date compared to the database engine previously used.
We have also decided to move away from the obsolete database format Access to SQL Server Compact 4.0.
SQL Server Compact 4.0 is a more lightweight and competent format than Access which also enables users of Helium Music Streamer to operate with the new default database on 64-bit systems, something Access could not do.
When using MySQL, the MyODBC layer is now no longer needed, enabling you to have an easier, improved and better integrated MySQL setup with the added benefit of much improved performance.
SQL Server also comes with several optimizations which enable database requests to deliver data quicker.
The migration process from Access to SQL Server Compact is fully automated and uses the new and improved importing functions.
Music Browser improvements
The Music Browser (Premium and Network versions) contains several enhancements such as improved and quicker paging functions, revised statistics page
and support for per-user-favourites which is available from the statistics page (this applies specifically to the Network version when multiple users are configured).
The new favourites lists enables you to quickly and easily browse your favourite artists, albums and tracks from the Music Browser.
Convert to format
Our Convert to format tool has been extended with support for many new formats. The end-user interface has also been simplified to make this process
much easier for the end-user.
Join audio files
Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with a new tool which allows you to join multiple audio files into one single file.
The tool can handle all music formats supported by Helium Music Manager as input formats and can output files into many different formats.
The end-user can select if any silence should be added between tracks as well as whether a CUE file should be created.
Split audio file
Similar to the new Join audio file tool, Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with a new tool which allows the end-user to split one large audio file into several smaller files. It allows you to create tracks in the following ways:
By loading a CUE file
Creating a specific number of tracks of equal length
Create tracks of the same lengths
Create manually defined tracks by specifying start and end offsets
Creating tracks from existing subtracks
The end-user can select between many different output formats.
Favourite folders in the Music Explorer
A end-user can quickly select if a specific folder under Library folders in the Music Explorer view should be a favourite folder.
Folders marked as favourites can easily be reached from the right-click menu and are stored per-user in Helium Music Manager's database (Network version).
New Helium Music Streamer version
If you own a Helium Music Streamer license you will need to update to the most recent release of the Helium Music Streamer in order to continue using it after you have updated to Helium Music Manager 8.1. You can download Helium Music Streamer from the Customer Center.
Windows Gadget
The Windows Gadget (for Windows Vista and Windows 7) which allow you to easily remote control Helium Music Manager is back and graphically revised.
The gadget allows end-users to see artist, title, rating, album picture and playing time. Music controls for play/pause and skip between tracks is available.
Favourite and Suggested tracks can be accessed as well as artist biography and playing album details. The gadget is now included in Helium Music Manager's installer.
Free version improvements
We have enabled the equalizer fully in the free version as well as removed any bitrate limitations when using rip and convert function.

Changes for v8.0 Build 9315 - v8.1 RC

Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with several updates and new features, the most important are listed below:
New database engine
The new database engine in Helium Music Manager 8.1 is more stable, better optimized for improved performance and more up-to-date
compared to the database engine previously used.
We have also decided to move away from the obsolete database format Access to SQL Server Compact 4.0.
SQL Server Compact 4.0 is a more lightweight and competent format than Access which also enables users of Helium Music Streamer to operate with the new default database on 64-bit systems, something Access could not do.
When using MySQL, the MyODBC layer is now no longer needed, enabling you to have an easier, improved and better integrated MySQL setup with the added benefit of much improved performance.
SQL Server also comes with several optimizations which enable database requests to deliver data quicker.
The migration process from Access to SQL Server Compact is fully automated and uses the new and improved importing functions.
Music Browser improvements
The Music Browser (Premium and Network versions) contains several enhancements such as improved and quicker paging functions, revised statistics page
and support for per-user-favourites which is available from the statistics page (this applies specifically to the Network version when multiple users are configured).
The new favourites lists enables you to quickly and easily browse your favourite artists, albums and tracks from the Music Browser.
Convert to format
Our Convert to format tool has been extended with support for many new formats. The end-user interface has also been simplified to make this process
much easier for the end-user.
Join audio files
Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with a new tool which allows you to join multiple audio files into one single file.
The tool can handle all music formats supported by Helium Music Manager as input formats and can output files into many different formats.
The end-user can select if any silence should be added between tracks as well as whether a CUE file should be created.
Split audio file
Similar to the new Join audio file tool, Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with a new tool which allows the end-user to split one large audio file into several smaller files.
It allows you to create tracks in the following ways:
By loading a CUE file
Creating a specific number of tracks of equal length
Create tracks of the same lengths
Create manually defined tracks by specifying start and end offsets
Creating tracks from existing subtracks
The end-user can select between many different output formats.
Favourite folders in the Music Explorer
A end-user can quickly select if a specific folder under Library folders in the Music Explorer view should be a favourite folder.
Folders marked as favourites can easily be reached from the right-click menu and are stored per-user in Helium Music Manager's database (Network version).
Windows Gadget
The Windows Gadget (for Windows Vista and Windows 7) which allow you to easily remote control Helium Music Manager is back and graphically revised.
The gadget allows end-users to see artist, title, rating, album picture and playing time. Music controls for play/pause and skip between tracks is available.
Favourite and Suggested tracks can be accessed as well as artist biography and playing album details.
The gadget is now included in Helium Music Manager's installer.
Apart from the above mentioned fixes, Helium Music Manager 8.1 comes with many bug fixes and improvements, reported by our users during this development phase.

Changes for v7.3 - v7.3 build 8705

A maintenance release of Helium Music Manager 7.3 is now available (build 8705).
This version contains corrections for the reports report via the Customer Center since the prior release.
It contains important corrections to MySQL backups and therefore we recommend all users running any prior release to upgrade to this build.
Also, to ensure that your backup of your MySQL database is proper, we strongly recommend you to take a new a new backup with this version.

Changes for v7.2 - v7.3

New mode for the Artist view - Album Artist view, which enables you to only browse and view "Album Artists"
Mapping of vorbis comment fields - You are now able to specify the tag identifiers that are mapped to a specific Helium Music Manager tag field.
This enables you to get your previous ogg & FLAC files perfectly mapped into Helium Music Manager without losing any data. (This feature is available in Premium/Network versions only)
New action for the Action Manager - Append field to existing field.
Capability to define odd/even row coloring colors
New WebService API commands
Optimizations to the cache performance when using a database with larger amounts of data
Corrections when using Subtracks in searches
Corrections to Filename to Tag handling
Corrections to the Device Synchronization wizard (duplicate handling plus exist checks)
Corrections to the "Various Artists" node in the Music Explorer
Minor corrections to multiple artist handling
Recording and release year are now used in an "all" search
Correction for auto track numbering with WAVE files
Correction in Hotkey handling
Corrections to USB devices appear/removal notifications
Sorting corrections in the Playlist View when removing items

Changes for v7.1 - v7.2

This maintenance release corrects problems with the CD Ripper, Content Cache, MTP device support and MySQL connection handling.
We recommend all users running build 8475 or earlier using these features to download and install this update.

Changes for v2007.0.0.5505 - v2007.0.0.5545

Several corrections to the Internal Player to avoid tracks beeing played twice at the same time when crossfade is used.
Minor corrections to the Synchronization Wizard. If you have had problems with that the wizard stops during a certain step, please try this new release of Helium Music Manager
Improvements to the Internal Player to better detect when track ends so that the automatic advancing to the next tracks works as it should
Several corrections related to MySQL (Moving folders with UNC paths, Renaming, Synchronizing)
Several improvements to the threaded tagging
Corrections to the Yahoo plugin
Corrections to the Last.fm plugin
Improvements and minor corrections to the EvilLyrics handling
Minor corrections to FLAC tag handling (Vorbis Comments)
Minor corrections to the File Rename Wizard so that the database won't be updated if a rename fails
Better support for exporting/importing of tags (Vorbis Comments->ID3v2)
Improved Webradio station support
Limitors in smart playlists can now handle values larger than 1GB
Minor corrections to the column handling
Date format corrections in the Summary and Artist Browser
Volumebar will be properly updated by mediakeys
Better information will be shown when playing files without tags
Filename To Tag will correctly use the capitalizer if active in the Tag Editor (Spreadsheet Mode)
Minor corrections to the Quick Browse feature in the tray menu
Improvemed memory handling when tagging larger files which previously could cause a Out Of Memory error
It is now possible to drag and drop "play links" from the Now Playing, Summary and Music Information Browser to enqueue a certain track to the Active Playlist
More picture related actions are available in the thumbnail view
Several improvments for stream handling in the simple API
Minor corrections in the simple API
Corrections for the information shown in the Status Bar in thumbnails mode
Corrections to sorting of the Added Date field in the Music Library