# Windows Media Player unknown album **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630 "2010-06-18T01:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/1 "2010-06-18T01:13:42Z")
When ripping files from a CD, Media Player thinks everything is an unknown album. What’s up? Windows XP professional SP 2. ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/2 "2010-06-18T01:30:03Z")
Right click on the album and choose either find or update album info. MP tends to try to find CD info using its online database. Sometimes it finds it quickly or other times it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/3 "2010-06-18T01:37:31Z")
It will find the info, but renaming the tracks is a pain. I imagine that in my paranoia about Microsoft I’ve told it not to check the web for album info when I rip a CD. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/4 "2010-06-18T02:56:49Z")
I don’t use windows to rip my CDs but as an alternative for naming that works great AND is free try [mp3tag](http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Mp3Tag/mp3tagde.html) It will do a search of the freedb or you can choose a few others like Amazon to get the track listings from. Plus you get the choice of how you want to name your files. Sorry I couldn’t help with your windows issues (I don’t have XP) but in any case mp3Tag is a great tool and it’s free ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/5 "2010-06-18T03:24:16Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It will find the info, but renaming the tracks is a pain. I imagine that in my paranoia about Microsoft I’ve told it not to check the web for album info when I rip a CD. Well, if you won’t let it check the web, how do you expect it to know anything about the CD? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/6 "2010-06-18T03:30:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Well, if you won’t let it check the web, how do you expect it to know anything about the CD? Well, yes, that’s the point. How did I screw up and how can I make it search the web again? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/7 "2010-06-18T17:22:10Z")
Windows Media Player 11, Windows XP Pro service pack 2. The library is per user. MP can find the info in another account, so I copied “userprofile\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player” from the account that did work to the one that didn’t. All is well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-media-player-unknown-album/543630/8 "2010-06-18T17:28:08Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Well, yes, that’s the point. How did I screw up and how can I make it search the web again? I don’t know the official answer to either of these questions, but going by my own personal experience, the answer to “how did I screw up” may involve trying to use WMP when you were offline or your internet connection wasn’t working, and the answer to “how can I make it search the web again” may involve fiddling with the “Work Offline” option under the File menu, and/or right-clicking where it says “Unknown Album” and choosing “Find album info,” and/or exiting and reloading WMP.