Windows 10 Media - Artist Download Update?

David Vega 0 Reputation points
2026-09-19T20:21:53.5833333+00:00

Why does not Windows Media 10 Library update my cd that I rip into my windows 10 library automatically update the artist information anymore as it did before? Is there a problem that need to be addressed then I am unaware of it. It is only the Artist information that needs to be downloaded and nothing else. So What happened to this feature? Can it be restarted by Windows? Thanks

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Apps
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  1. AI answer

    2026-09-19T20:22:12.6333333+00:00

    Windows Media Player gets CD artist and album details from an online metadata service. If that information no longer appears, the feature is not working reliably anymore.

    Two supported checks are available:

    1. Confirm the PC has internet access.
    2. In Windows Media Player, open Tools > Options > Privacy and make sure Retrieve media details from the Internet is enabled.

    If that setting is already on and CDs still show Unknown Artist or missing artist data, the accepted Microsoft Q&A guidance indicates this metadata lookup has been broken for a long time in the Windows media players because the server connection used for track and album information is not working.

    So this is not something that can be restarted locally in Windows when the online metadata source is unavailable.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Hendrix-V 19,650 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-20T04:00:19.2966667+00:00

    Hi @David Vega ,

    If the artist information is no longer being added automatically when you rip CDs, it may be related to how Windows Media Player obtains album and artist metadata from online sources. In some cases, this information may not be available for retrieval even though the CD itself is imported successfully.

    As a quick workaround, you can:

    1. Open Windows Media Player and locate the album in your library.
    2. Right-click the album or track and select Edit.
    3. Manually enter or correct the artist information and save the changes.

    You may also want to test with a different commercial music CD to see whether the behavior is limited to a particular disc or affects all CDs.

    If the issue occurs with multiple CDs, there may not be a local setting available to restore the missing metadata retrieval behavior. However, manually updating the tags will allow the library to display the correct artist information and keep your collection organized.

    I hope this helps clarify the situation. Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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  3. Bulldog 4,765 Reputation points
    2026-09-20T05:07:26.4366667+00:00

    Windows Media Player doesn't do that anymore.

    Windows Media Player is now legacy software. That means it's being retired. Microsoft even calls it Legacy Windows Media Player. Its replacement is simply called Media Player, which is the current default media player for Windows.

    Legacy Windows Media Player is being retired because it was built around two technologies that have largely fallen out of use: home media libraries and MP3 players like Microsoft's own Zune player, which was retired long ago.

    Microsoft was paying a large fee to license music metadata services like MusicMatch and Gracenote, and with increasingly fewer people building home music libraries, the expense was no longer worthwhile, and so Microsoft ended its contracts with suppliers of metadata. This is why you can no longer obtain artist and album information with Legacy Windows Media Player.

    You can still obtain the metadata, but you have to do it yourself. I used Exact Audio Copy to rip my old collection of CDs

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