Name That Tune

Lenny Bailes

Warning: Microsoft issues stern warnings predicting doom and gloom if you install the prerelease version of Windows Media Player 7 software. We didn't experience any problems in our testing, but if you have valuable data on your hard drive, you should back it up as a precaution before you install Windows Media Player.

For complete CDs or individual tracks, Windows Media Player 7 can update information from Microsoft's Internet database (which, unlike other music players, doesn't use the CDDB music information database).

First, insert the CD in your CD-ROM drive while connected to the Internet, then open Windows Media Player. Select the CD Audio tab on the left side of the application window and click the Get Names button.

1. To update information for music tracks stored on your hard disk, select the Media Library tab, double-click the Album section in the left display pane (under Audio), right-click an album title and choose Get Names.
2. Click Next in the Ready to Search window and enter the name of the artist in the Search for Artist field. If Windows Media Player finds artist information, you can confirm the name of the artist on the next screen. If it doesn't find anything, click the "Not Found" button near the bottom of the screen and skip to step 5.
3. After you select the artist name from the list, click Next and choose the title of the album (if it appears in the Choose Album screen). If the album title isn't there, click the "Not Found" button and skip to step 5.
4. If you selected an album title in Step 3, confirm that the track information displayed matches your CD or individual audio file. If the information is correct, click the Finish button. To change the information on this screen, click the Edit button.
5. If you clicked the Not Found button in steps 2 or 3, or the Edit button in Step 4, Windows Media Player presents an Enter/Edit Track Information window that permits you to manually edit artist, title, and track information. Enter any information that you want to include in the Windows Media Player listing for the selection.
6. When you're satisfied with the track information for your selection, click the Finish button. For CDs, the updated information will now appear in the CD Audio display window. For music files in the Media Library, right-click the album title in the left pane and choose Update Names from the popup menu to update the display. If you manually entered or changed information in Step 5, Windows Media Player automatically submits your information to Microsoft's Windows Media Web site for possible inclusion in the CD database.