Burthod states that 1.82 is almost a complete re-write so I doubt you would be able to upgrade without some effects. It's only when you make it to version 1.20 that there are no database changes required to upgrade to version 1.82.
Losing albums and such is not an issue, so I am happy to do an install of the latest version. The question is then: should I "uninstall" my old version first as the code from the latest version only needs two files modified (or two entries)?