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Enhanced Playback and Device Experience

To enrich your experience when playing CDs, DVDs, and digital media files, the Player downloads related media information about the content, such as the album title, album art, song and DVD titles, artist, composer, and other information.

You can use the following options to control whether related media information is retrieved for your digital media content.

Option Description
Display media information from the Internet The Player can try to obtain media information for the CDs and DVDs that you play. To obtain the media information, the Player sends the CD or DVD identifier to a database operated by your default online store. The online store then sends the information back to your computer, where the information is stored.

When your computer is offline, the Player stores the request for media information so it can try to obtain the media information the next time your computer is connected to the Internet.

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  • If no online music stores are available in your area, the media information is provided by a database hosted by WindowsMedia.com.
  • The media information that is retrieved may not be in your local language.
Update music files by retrieving media info from the Internet The Player can automatically obtain and update missing media information for music files that are added to or stored in your library, if the information is available. By default, the music files in your My Music folder are added to your library.

If this check box is selected and you perform any of the following actions, the Player tries to update any missing media information in your music files by sending data about the files to a database operated by WindowsMedia.com:

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

For example, if you have music files that contain the artist name but not the album name, the Player adds the album name to the file after retrieving the information from the database.

The Player also adds album art to files and music folders in your My Music folder.

When you display the Info Center View or Media Information panes, the Player retrieves related media information but does not update the information in your files.

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  • The media information that is retrieved may not be in your local language.
Acquire licenses automatically for protected content The Player can automatically acquire a license when a file requires one. Acquiring licenses automatically can provide a more seamless playback experience for protected files, because the Player obtains the license without prompting you.

Some protected content requires a license to play it. To acquire licenses for content (other than content from CDs that you rip to your computer), you may be required to visit the content provider's Web site. Once a license is acquired, it is stored on your computer.

You cannot play protected content if you do not have the license. In some cases, you may be required to pay for the license. In other cases, you may be required to complete a form before the content provider will issue the license to you.

Set clock on devices automatically The Player can automatically set and refresh an internal clock on your device. This enables you to synchronize protected files that have licenses containing expiration dates to your device.

Select this option if you want to play protected content with expiration dates on your portable device.

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  • The Player cannot synchronize protected files with expiration dates to a device that does not contain an internal clock. For more information, see your device documentation.

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