This seems like a widespread issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/1pnn8qz/anyone_elses_media_player_having_trouble_updating/
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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Steven Haymes
100
Reputation points
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?
Thank you,
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Apps
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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.
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darran kaminski 30 Reputation points2025-12-20T20:17:05.7166667+00:00 yup, i got this issue too, just started this week.
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darran kaminski 30 Reputation points
2025-12-20T20:18:32.4833333+00:00 come on Microsoft engineers! give us a solution.
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ICE 0 Reputation points2025-12-25T16:03:51.16+00:00 I’ve had this same problem too since the update. I deleted WMP & reinstalled it. Still having the same issue.
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Daniel Longsworth 0 Reputation points2025-12-25T21:24:53.0766667+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.
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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.
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Chris 5 Reputation points2025-12-28T00:21:11.1866667+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?
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Krzysztof Trojak 0 Reputation points2026-01-05T09:52:35.48+00:00 same on my side. Their support both telephone and online sucks..
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Hugh Danville 0 Reputation points2026-01-15T20:20:02.15+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
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(278.4, 51%, 36%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EPB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
pierce butler jr 0 Reputation points2026-01-22T22:10:41.3466667+00:00 this is the same problem i'm having. about 60% of my CD's have the nfo and the rest doesn't.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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6 answers
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Ron Y L 850 Reputation points2025-12-17T09:15:47.53+00:00 -
Steven Haymes 100 Reputation points
2025-12-17T09:29:26+00:00 Thanks Ron, I am getting the same problem on VLC Player too which suggests that whoever out on the Internet manages this CD database is having a problem. It could be off-line at this time.
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Hugh Danville 0 Reputation points
2026-01-15T20:22:10.56+00:00 why don't you provide the number folks that answered No to the question "Was this answer helpful?" ?
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Bobby 5 Reputation points2026-04-21T01:16:16.03+00:00 -
Steven Haymes 100 Reputation points
2026-04-21T04:09:42.86+00:00 Thanks for this excellent summary.
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.
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Bobby 5 Reputation points
2026-04-22T22:09:41.5633333+00:00 VLC still not working.
Media Monkey free works right away.
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Steven Haymes 100 Reputation points
2026-04-22T22:33:30.03+00:00 To make VLC read the CDDB info:
Preferences > All > Input/Codecs > Access Modules > Audio CD > CDDB Server > change freedb.videolan.org to gnudb.gnudb.org
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darran kaminski 30 Reputation points
2026-04-23T16:56:12.97+00:00 That's probably what i needed to do when I tried VLC, but didn't like it, so went with media monkey. I'm still mad at Microsoft for doing this to life long customers.
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