When playing music CD's all of the artist and track information is missing in both Media Player and Windows Media Player legacy

Steven Haymes 100

After a forced upgrade to Windows 11 25H2 on 2 computers, when playing music CD's all of the artist and track information is missing in both Media Player and Windows Media Player legacy (my preferred player). Both media players' settings are good. The Media Player troubleshooter found no errors. SFC found corrupted files on both computers that required DISM to repair the files, but this did not fix the problem with both media players. How do I fix this problem? Screenshot_2025-12-16_233613

Thank you,

Steven Haymes 100 Reputation points

2025-12-18T20:53:46.09+00:00

I already used the Feedback Hub BEFORE submitting my question as is my standard procedure. I have the same problem on VLC Media Player, so the problem is outside of Microsoft, most likely with the site that maintains the CD database. Kind of like if the Weather App was not working because the National Weather Service or where ever the app gets its' data is down.
darran kaminski 30 Reputation points

2025-12-20T20:17:05.7166667+00:00

yup, i got this issue too, just started this week.
darran kaminski 30 Reputation points

2025-12-20T20:18:32.4833333+00:00

come on Microsoft engineers! give us a solution.
ICE 0 Reputation points

2025-12-25T16:03:51.16+00:00

I’ve had this same problem too since the update. I deleted WMP & reinstalled it. Still having the same issue.
Daniel Longsworth 0 Reputation points

2025-12-25T21:24:53.0766667+00:00

Yes, I've gotten an Amicool External DVD Drive this Christmas and I'm trying to rip some songs from my CDs. However, I'm having the same issue.
darran kaminski 30 Reputation points

2025-12-27T18:34:27.24+00:00

I had to use Apple iTunes, but now M4A format, oh well, just have to copy the front cover from wiki or amazon. Then cut, rename and put into windows folder. Time to start seriously considering a new Mac.
Chris 5 Reputation points

2025-12-28T00:21:11.1866667+00:00

At the end of the day, Microsoft sucks a$$. They care more about profits then customers. I have a fortune in music and MS thought it was their responsibility to phuck up everything. Just think, how many of you pay MS a sub fee for the cluster phucks they create?
Davegs 0 Reputation points

2025-12-31T12:07:49.5566667+00:00

Yeah same here
Krzysztof Trojak 0 Reputation points

2026-01-05T09:52:35.48+00:00

same on my side. Their support both telephone and online sucks..
darran kaminski 30 Reputation points

2026-01-14T01:46:57.72+00:00

still not working as of 1/13/2026
Hugh Danville 0 Reputation points

2026-01-15T20:20:02.15+00:00

Like all the above windows media player has been changed with recent upgrades and no longer reads the the musician's name, title of the cd and the track name(s). this makes Media player almost totally usless. I will be looking into media monkey
pierce butler jr 0 Reputation points

2026-01-22T22:10:41.3466667+00:00

this is the same problem i'm having. about 60% of my CD's have the nfo and the rest doesn't.
darran kaminski 30 Reputation points

2026-01-23T00:46:58.5866667+00:00

Yes, it's happening to everyone. This should be a huge story. You must give them negative feedback and open a ticket to make them work on it. We need to complain.
Steven Haymes 100 Reputation points

2026-04-21T04:13:22.5966667+00:00

This is yet another example of Microsoft being a penny wise and a pound foolish. For a big corporation like Microsoft, continuing the CD metadata lookup costs pennies while the fallout from this foolish decision will cost Microsoft much more as customers turn away from Microsoft in search of alternatives.

I made the decision to start using a non-Microsoft freeware product MusicBee music manager and player which does CD metadata lookup and has a big international user base. So far, MusicBee has worked very well for me.

VLC media player which free and open source also does CD metadata lookup and has a big international user base but it first requires a small settings change as follows:

Preferences > All > Input/Codecs > Access Modules > Audio CD > CDDB Server > change freedb.videolan.org to gnudb.gnudb.org

For my purposes, the equalizer in MusicBee includes an option for Jazz while VLC does not so I went with MusicBee.

The trend of Microsoft being a penny wise and a pound foolish has gone on for many years. For me, it started back in Windows XP days, when Microsoft discontinued Outlook Express which was a good lightweight email client, and I discovered Mozilla Thunderbird which I have used ever since.

Recently, Microsoft stopped supporting Link to Windows on my older Samsung phone which made me look for an alternative. I found KDE Connect which is free and opensource . When combined with WinSCP, I can do seamless file system browsing and file transfers on both my phone and Windows computers that is not possible with Phone Link. When I got a new Samsung phone, I stayed with KDE Connect.

While Microsoft continues to be a penny wise and a pound foolish, I encourage everyone to look at the opensource and freeware alternatives that are available as there are many. If you like them, please make a financial contribution to support them.
Steven Haymes 100 Reputation points

2026-04-21T04:15:21.51+00:00

This is yet another example of Microsoft being a penny wise and a pound foolish. For a big corporation like Microsoft, continuing the CD metadata lookup costs pennies while the fallout from this foolish decision will cost Microsoft much more as customers turn away from Microsoft in search of alternatives.

I made the decision to start using a non-Microsoft freeware product MusicBee music manager and player which does CD metadata lookup and has a big international user base. So far, MusicBee has worked very well for me.

VLC media player which free and open source also does CD metadata lookup and has a big international user base but it first requires a small settings change as follows:

Preferences > All > Input/Codecs > Access Modules > Audio CD > CDDB Server > change freedb.videolan.org to gnudb.gnudb.org

For my purposes, the equalizer in MusicBee includes an option for Jazz while VLC does not so I went with MusicBee.

The trend of Microsoft being a penny wise and a pound foolish has gone on for many years. For me, it started back in Windows XP days, when Microsoft discontinued Outlook Express which was a good lightweight email client, and I discovered Mozilla Thunderbird which I have used ever since.

Recently, Microsoft stopped supporting Link to Windows on my older Samsung phone which made me look for an alternative. I found KDE Connect which is free and opensource . When combined with WinSCP, I can do seamless file system browsing and file transfers on both my phone and Windows computers that is not possible with Phone Link. When I got a new Samsung phone, I stayed with KDE Connect.

While Microsoft continues to be a penny wise and a pound foolish, I encourage everyone to look at the opensource and freeware alternatives that are available as there are many. If you like them, please make a financial contribution to support them.

6 answers

DJAnderson 0 Reputation points

2026-01-10T15:44:25.3+00:00

Yes, this is quite annoying. One solution, which shouldn't really be necessary, is to get album information from Discogs via Mp3tag. When using wmp to rip a cd, I usually get most of the tag information with the exception of the album cover image. The album cover images appear as empty files, which I delete. I bring the album folder under Mp3tag and use the Discogs option to get all the album tag info, including the cover art, which I extract into the album folder. There are some variations using this procedure depending on the album, but they're not insurmountable. It's possible there's a simpler procedure using these components, but what I've just described works for me.

I highly recommend Mp3tag for situations like this.
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When playing music CD's all of the artist and track information is missing in both Media Player and Windows Media Player legacy

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