Media Player doesn't update album info online

Question

for the past few months Windows' built in Media player (ex Groove Music) hasn't been updating any album info online when pressed. The message is always: "We couldn't connect to the service. Check your internet connection, then try again".
My internet connection is excellent and the app is in its latest version. I have also shared feedback to the Store but I haven't seen any changes.

Answer 1

This is currently a widely reported problem with the new Media Player app and the Legacy Windows Media Player, this seems to be either caused by a Windows update or a problem contacting the MusicMatch servers Microsoft use the get the album data, Microsoft are aware of the problem, there is currently no workaround or reported fix from them for this yet.

Answer 2

This is consistent with a service-side metadata issue rather than a local internet problem.

What is supported:

• Windows Media Player gets album and artist information from an online service.
• If that service is unavailable or not working correctly, album info can fail to load even when the internet connection is fine.
• Microsoft Q&A reports that Windows Media Player’s online metadata service is no longer working as it used to, and in some cases is described as a server-side problem.
• For legacy Windows Media Player, there is no separate app update path because it is a legacy app.

Practical steps:

1. In Windows Media Player, verify the online metadata option is enabled:
   • Tools > Options > Privacy
   • Make sure Retrieve media details from the Internet is enabled.
2. If album info still does not load, treat the issue as service-side rather than a connectivity fault on the PC.
3. If the problem is with legacy Windows Media Player library data, rebuilding the local database can clear incorrect cached entries, but it will not restore missing metadata if the online lookup service is not returning data:
   • Close Windows Media Player.
   • Press Windows + R.
   • Enter **%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player**.
   • Delete the files in that folder, but do not delete the folder itself.
   • Restart Windows Media Player.
4. If metadata is important, the reliable workaround is to use files that already have embedded tags or correct the tags outside Windows Media Player, because rebuilding alone does not fix missing online lookups.

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