Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Fixed repeating activation issue.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Device Information folder now reports what drive letter the iRiver is mounted as.
• Fixed bug where transfer errors due to inability to read source file was being misreported as memory full error.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Minor compatibility fixes.
• Fixed bug in Options dialog when device is not connected.

New Features:

• Configurable Root Music Folder
  In previous releases, music folders created by Irivium (based on artist, album, genre, etc.) were created at the root of the iRiver's drive. In response to user requests, we have now added the option to place all music folders into a single subfolder on the iRiver drive. The name of the folder is user-configurable.
  
  
• Remove Orphans Utility
  This new utility in the "Utilities" folder searches for and removes database track entries that refer to files that no longer exist on your iRiver (perhaps because you deleted them manually in Windows Explorer).

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Fixed 'Parameter is Incorrect' Error in "Relocate Tracks" Utility
  Users who have MP3 files with incompete tags might have encountered a 'Parameter is Incorrect' error when running the "Relocate Tracks" utility. This bug has been fixed so that files with incomplete tags are handled properly.
  
  

New Features:

• Revamped Player Management System
  We have completely redesigned and rewritten the internal system Irivium uses to manage your iRiver player's contents. These changes improve Irivium's performance, enable H300-Series support, and give us more flexibility to add support for photos, recordings, and other iRiver features in future releases. These optimizations have also made the Irivium package smaller and more compact.
  
  
• H300-Series Support
  Irivium now supports the new iRiver H300-Series of players, including all capacities. All the features available for the 100 series have been ported to the 300 series, with support for photo management coming in future releases.
  
  
• Utilities Folder
  We've added a new Utilities folder to the top level of Irivium Explorer. This folder contains various maintenance utilities that can be run on your player. Currently, this includes the "Import Existing Content" and "Reorganize Tracks" utilities that were available in previous releases under "Irivium Manager Options" in the systray icon. They are now more conveniently located in the Irivium Explorer interface, and feature improved user interfaces with detailed descriptions of what they do. We've also added a new utility to rebuild the Irivium database from scratch if necessary.
  
  
• Folder Structure Options
  Irivium has various options you can set to configure how it creates folders and names files when you transfer to the player. These options used to be accessible only under Irivium Manager Options in the systray icon, but now they are also accessible in the main Irivium Options dialog in the Irivium Explorer interface.

New Features:

• Enhanced Playback Performance
  When playing back iHP tracks locally through the Irivium Explorer interface, your playback application will now play directly from the files on your iHP instead of through the Xtreamer server. This should eliminate inter-track playback gaps and improve compatibility with certain playback applications when playing locally. These changes should also reduce inter-track playback gaps when remote streaming through the Xtreamer server.
  
  
• Xtreamer Security Improvements
  For security reasons, usernames and passwords are now required when a remote computer accesses Xtreamer. Therefore, you must set up at least one remote access account before Xtreamer can be accessed from other computers. Local access does not require username and password. We have added a account management interface to make it simple and fast to create, edit, and delete accounts. Access this new account manager by by right-clicking the Irivium icon in the systray and selecting "Irivium Manager Options". In addition, we have disabled authentication on the audio streams themselves to improve streaming compatibility with playback applications that do not handle HTTP authentication well or at all. You now only need to authenticate once when accessing the initial Xtreamer homepage.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Improved ID3 Tag Handling
  In the previous release, MP3 files with a complete ID3V1 tag but a blank ID3V2 tag would not be read properly. This release should properly handle such MP3's and read the information from the V1 tag and ignore the blank V2 tag.
  
  
• Fixed default Xtreamer skin for proper display alignment in Firefox/Mozilla browsers.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Fix for 'A' Folder Problem
  The iHP firmware has a bug where files stored in folders named 'A' will not playback. We have implemented a workaround in Irivium where if you are using the first letter of the artist's name as part of your folder structure, 'AA' will be used instead of 'A' to avoid this problem.
  
  
• Improved VBR MP3 Analysis
  We have improved our bitrate analysis code to properly calculate the play length of VBR MP3 files encoded by certain specific encoders. If you have VBR files that do not play for their full duration on your player, please re-transfer them using this release.
  
  
• Fixed bug where files would not transfer to PC properly if one or more of the file's tag fields ended in a period.
• Robustness improvements in transfer to PC functions.
• Xtreamer can now be configured to use port numbers up to 99999 instead of just 9999.
• Fixed Explorer problem where status bar file information would lag behind by one file when navigating up and down the file list using the keyboard.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug where files with artist or album names ending in periods (such as R.E.M.) would not be properly transferred and added to the Irivium database.
• Fixed bug in 8.6.0 where Playlist Index did not display the correct playlist membership information.
• Fixed instability in playlist merging function.
• Fixed a tag reading bug causing accented UTF-8 characters in ID3V2 tags to be corrupted when an ID3V1 tag is also present in the MP3 file.
• Fixed bug where clicking on "Open Irivium Explorer" in the systray icon's context menu did not work.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Further stability improvements to the TrueStream and Xtreamer streaming mechanisms.
• Fixed .m3u playlist import function. Previous releases would not properly import playlists stored in the same folder as the tracks it refers to. This release properly handles such relative paths.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Windows XP Service Pack 2 Compatibility
  Irivium has been tested with the latest beta release of the upcoming Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Microsoft Windows XP. If you encounter any problems after installing SP2, please contact technical support and let us know!
  
  
• Fixed Misnamed Tracks Bug
  In the previous release, some users reported a problem where tracks transferred to the iHP would end up with filenames like 05 05 05 05 05.mp3, where the track number is just repeated several times. This bug occurred with certain specific filename configuration options combined with moderate to heavy CPU load during the transfer. This bug has now been fixed so tracks transferred using this new release should not have this problem. To fix the filenames of tracks already on-board the iHP, run the "Relocate Tracks" function under Irivium Manager Options in the systray. Thanks to user Tony for his help in tracking this down.
  
  
• Improved Xtreamer Performance
  In previous releases, streaming playback could hang at the end of a track on some systems, requiring the Manager or the computer to be restarted. This release features an improved streaming mechanism that should resolve this problem. Also fixed a bug where Xtreamer could use an unnecessary amount of temp space in certain circumstances.
  
  
• Fixed problem with Explorer running at High priority instead of Normal when launched from the systray icon.
  
  
• Increased streaming limit to five tracks in trial edition.
• Removed unnecessary warning message about Winamp integration when changing TrueStream options.
• Minor installer improvements.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• New, Fully Integrated File Type Exclusion
  The file format exclusion options for transfers have been improved to allow the exclusion of all file formats supported by the player, not just the limited options available in previous releases. These are the options available in the Transfers section of the Options dialog. The new options are also properly integrated with AudioMorph and SpeedSync as well as normal transfers from the PC.
  
  
• Improved Tag Writeback Robustness
  In previous releases, tag writeback for transfers back to the PC could hang on some files with invalid or corrupt tags. The tag writeback facility has been improved to more gracefully handle such files and avoid hangs during transfers. If you still run into files with tags that cause problems, let us know, we may want to take a look at the file.
  
  
• Major Connect/Disconnect Speed Improvements
  Certain validation checks being performed during connect to and disconnect from the iHP have been optimized. Connect and disconnect times should now be many times faster than in the previous release, especially for heavily loaded iHP's.
  
  
• Fix for WMA File Type Handling
  In previous releases, WMA files on the iHP would be incorrectly reported as MP3 files by Irivium. This has been fixed so that WMA files show up as WMA type.

New Features and Enhancements:

• New Import Wizard
  New wizard helps you setup Irivium for use with your iHP the first time you run it. This includes running an initial import of existing tracks and playlists, and configuration of your folder and filename generation options.
  
  
• New File Placement and Organization
  In previous releases, Irivium would store transferred tracks in a folder called IRIVIUM\AUDIO. Many users sent feedback asking for Irivium to store files at the root of the iHP to reduce the number of clicks for navigation. With this release, we have implemented this change so that the IRIVIUM folder is no longer required. For users of previous releases, use the 'Relocate' utility to have Irivium automatically move your file structure back up to the root folder of your iHP.
  
  
• New Folder and Filename Generation Options
  The folder structure and filenames generated by Irivium when transferring new tracks to the iHP are now more customizable. You can now select from 6 different options including orgazation based on Genre or even the first letter of the Artist's name.
  
  
• File Path Display in 'Audio Tracks'
  The actual filepath and filename of each track is now available for display in the Audio Tracks folder. Right-click on the column headers to display this column.
  
  
• Import Utility Now Also Imports Existing Playlists
  The 'Import' utility used to import existing tracks on your iHP can now also import existing .m3u playlists produced by other software so that you can manage them in Irivium.
  
  
• Relocate Utility Cleans Up Empty Folders
  The 'Relocate' utility that reorganizes existing files based on your folder and filename generation settings now cleans up old, empty, unused folders as it goes along, keeping your player nice and tidy.
  
  
• Fix for Missing Tracks on Windows 98 and Windows ME
  The previous release, 8.5.4, introduced a bug on Win98 and WinME platforms which would cause Irivium to not recognize tracks on your player after connection, transfer, or recovery. This bug has been fixed. To recover files that you know are on your iHP but do not appear in Irivium, use the 'Import Existing Content' utility under 'Irivium Manager Options' in the systray icon's menu.
  
  
• Fix for Duplicate Transfer Deletion Bug
  In previous releases, attempting to transfer a track that already exists on the player could cause the existing copy on the player to be deleted. You could also see this deletion occur when transferring a playlist file in order to construct a playlist using tracks already on the player. This bug has been fixed.

New Features:

• Major Enhancements to SpeedSync
  The SpeedSync feature has received a major overhaul. First, the tag cache is now based on a new mechanism that should improve scalability and stability, especially for users with large sync sets. Scanning for new or modified files in the sync set has been sped up by 10x. The SpeedSync dialog also features new, improved feedback indicators for the user to monitor progress of the sync comparison. More appropriate device icons are also displayed to match your specific player. Long pathnames displayed in the results tabs have also been compressed to improve readability. Finally, SpeedSync now performs the same automatic tag filling as the transfer mechanism does, so that files with missing tag fields are no longer sync'ed over and over again.
  
  
• Tag Writeback on Transfer to PC
  As you may or may not know, tag edits you make on board your player are made to a separate tag database and are not written to the files themselves on board the player. This new feature takes the changes you've made to the database and writes them back to the actual music files themselves when you transfer them back to the PC. This should also improve the behavior of SpeedSync, so that it no longer repeatedly syncs tracks whose tags you've edited on board the player. This writeback feature currently supports MP3 files. Tag writeback for other formats will come in future releases. This option is enabled by default. You can disable it using a checkbox in the "Tag Handling" section of the Options dialog.
  
  
• Albums by this Artist from Amazon.com
  This new feature enhances your music-listening experience by helping you find albums you might not know about by artists you enjoy. Right-click on any track on your player and select "Albums by this Artist". This will bring up a dialog that lists all released albums by the artist you clicked on. Albums you already have in your collection are denoted with a special icon, allowing you to browse and explore other albums by that artist that you don't have yet. Double-click on any album for more details, track list, commentary, and song samples, courtesy of Amazon.com.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

• Fixed TrueStream from Irivium Explorer Interface
  In the previous release, streaming from the Explorer interface would not work because the wrong port number was inserted into the stream URL. Xtreamer streaming worked, but Explorer streaming would not. This has been fixed.
  
  
• Major Speedup for Import Function
  The "Import Manual Tracks" function in the Irivium Manager Options dialog has been significantly sped up.
  
  
• Fix for Blank Folder Names
  In previous releases, transferring or importing tracks with one or more blank tag fields could create folder names containing only spaces. This would happen if your filename generation template specified folder structure using a tag field whose value for a track was blank or only spaces. In this case, the folder would be properly created and the transfer would proceed, but folders with only spaces in their names cannot be deleted in Windows Explorer. You can only delete them from the DOS prompt. Irivium has been modified so that "Unknown" is substituted when a blank field is detected, so no non-deletable folders will be created.
  
  
• Fixed bug in Search feature where after deleting files in the search results, the display would show bogus track listings.
• When transferring files to iHP the read-only flag (if set on original file) is no longer inherited by the copy on the iHP. This prevents problems with editing tags of files on the iHP when transferring from read-only sources like CD's.
• A more appropriate device icon is now displayed in the transfer dialog.
• Irivium now uses the system-wide Windows setting for default web browser for all web browsing tasks. You no longer need to specify a browser in the Irivium Options dialog. This setting is used for browsing Xtreamer, accessing online help, and other tasks.
• Added Manager detection for when Irivium is not installed properly in a Windows user account. User is notified.

• First Full Release
  Irivium Explorer is now officially out of beta testing. 8.5.3 is the first full release.
  
  
• Modified "Import Manual Tracks" utility to ignore non-music files. Only files of audio formats supported by the iHP will be imported.
• Improved detection of iHP-140 devices.
• Improved speed of "Connecting" process.

• This release fixes a bug in the previous release where Irivium was not automatically creating some required folders. This would prevent Irivium from properly saving changes to the iHP after transferring a file or running an "Import Manual Tracks" operation. The error code reported would have been 0x17:0x3. This problem should be resolved in this release and transfers and imports should work properly now.

• Initial release of Irivium Explorer beta.