Windows Media Player Loses CD Info Tool as Optical Drives Fade — What Now?

Windows Media Player CD info feature has vanished, leaving music enthusiasts scrambling for replacements as optical drives disappear.

Microsoft has removed 'find album information' and 'update album info online' tools from both Legacy Windows Media Player and the new Windows 11 Media Player app.

The Legacy app failed to connect to musicmatch-ssl.xboxlive.com, while the new app displayed an error: 'We couldn’t connect to the service. Check your internet connection, then try again.'

Context: Optical drives are increasingly rare in 2025 PCs, but physical media enthusiasts still rely on CD audio playback for quality and archival purposes.

Alternative CD rippers and players exist, but built-in Windows tools now lack metadata functionality.