Working with media information

When you play your digital media files in Windows Media Player, the Player can download and display media information, such as the artist, title, album, producer, and other information, about the content that is playing.

Media information can be displayed for music files in WMA or MP3 format and CDs, video files in WMV format and Microsoft Recorded TV shows (.dvr-ms files), and DVDs. When you play a CD or DVD, the Player displays media information that is stored in your library. When you play a WMA, MP3, WMV, or DVR-MS file, the Player displays media information that is stored either in your library or in the file itself. If the media information is not available, or only partially complete, the Player can retrieve the missing information from a database operated by WindowsMedia.com and store it in your library for future use.

The Player also retrieves and updates media information for related files when:

• You use the Library feature for the first time after updating the Player
• You add files to your library by searching your computer
• You add files to monitored folders, such as the My Music folder

You can manually edit media information for any digital media content that is displayed in your library. If media information cannot be retrieved from the WindowsMedia.com database for the digital music files or CDs that you are playing, or if the information is incorrect, you can manually enter the media information and send the updates to the database. The changes that you make are made available to other users.

Additional media information about the items in your library can be obtained from the currently selected online store. This information supplements the media information provided by WindowsMedia.com and is displayed in the Media Information pane. Media information provided by online stores cannot be edited.

Notes

• To automatically obtain media information, your computer must be connected to the Internet and you must configure the Player to retrieve the media information automatically.
• If no online stores are available in your area, the media information displayed in the Media Information pane is provided from a database hosted by WindowsMedia.com.
• To prevent the Player from retrieving and updating the media information for your digital music files from WindowsMedia.com, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then on the Privacy tab, clear the Update music files by retrieving media info from the Internet check box.
• After media information is edited or updated, items may be automatically renamed and rearranged in your library and in the folder to which your music files are ripped if the options to rename and rearrange music files using rip music settings is selected. By default, music files are ripped to your My Music folder.
• If your library database becomes corrupted, your files and most of the media information should remain intact. However, ratings and play count information may be lost because it is not stored in the files. You can restore the contents of your library by searching for media files on your computer.

This section covers:

• To edit media information
• To update information about an album
• To create a user rating for an item
• To process media information immediately

Related topics

• Organizing your files
• Setting Library options
• Setting privacy options