Unknown Album, Unknown Artist???

Mike Polson — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 05:47:00 GMT

Ever insert a CD into Windows Media Player, only to see it display Unknown Album, Unknown Artist, Track 1, Track 2, Track 3, etc? This happens when metadata information is not available for the CD. However, this situation can be corrected.

How? You ask.

Easy. In Windows Media Player, just click the Now Playing tab, look for the playlist on the right side. Here you will see a picture of a CD. Notice the Find Album Info link below it.

Click this link and you will be presented with a wizard that will allow to quickly key in your album information. “Unknown Album” will be replaced with the correct album title. Pretty cool!

My First Post!

Mike Polson — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 02:59:00 GMT

Hello !

My name is Mike Polson. I'm a Program Manager here @ Microsoft working in the Windows Digital Media Division. My colleagues in the division develop the ultra-cool:

Windows Media Player
Windows Media Encoder
Windows Media Services (server)
Windows Media Center Edition
Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition
- PhotoStory
- Sync'N Go
Windows Movie Maker

I use and Love all these products. Most are available as free downloads!

Ok-- so what do I actually do?

I design systems and databases for providing Metadata Services for Windows Media Player.

What's a Metadata Service?

Well, metadata is “data about data”. We provide several metadata services. Our most popular service in terms of usage is CD metadata.

Hopefully, you've noticed that when you insert a CD into Windows Media Player, it displays the album name, artist name, and all your track (song) titles. In addition, you may see a pretty picture of the actual CD jacket.

Although it may appear too, that “metadata“ doesn't actually reside on your CD. Instead, it is provided via our online service. If you computer is connected to the internet, when you insert a CD into Windows Media Player for the first time, it will query our database. If we have a match for your CD, we will send you fresh and shiny metadata.

Our goal is that this service “just works“ -- so how are we doing?

Mike Polson's WebLog

Unknown Album, Unknown Artist???

My First Post!