Changes to Windows Media Center and Player Metadata service
Microsoft revealed plans on Friday to turn off the metadata service for certain media product and operating system combinations.
The company maintains two media products right now that ship with various versions of the Windows operating system; Windows Media Center, only available in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, and Windows Media Player, available in all supported versions of Windows.
Both programs may use the metadata service to retrieve information about media from Microsoft servers. If a song is playing, the metadata service might retrieve the title, artist or genre of the song, or cover art. Movie and TV show metadata may include actor and director names, or genre.
Microsoft plans to shut down the metadata service for Windows Media Center entirely. The company did not include Windows Media Center in Windows 10 (but you may get it to install), which it released in 2015, and it was clear right then and there that the multimedia player would be on its way out.
Windows 7 users who run Windows Media Player will also have to do without the metadata service; Microsoft will shut down the service for Windows Media Player running on Windows 7 going forward but not for Windows Media Player running on Windows 8, 8.1 or 10.
The following table highlights how different operating systems are affected.
| Windows Media version | Operating system | Affected by this change? |
| Windows Media Center | ||
| Windows 8.1 | Yes | |
| Windows 8 | Yes | |
| Windows 7 | Yes | |
| Windows Media Player | ||
| Windows 10 | No | |
| Windows 8.1 | No | |
| Windows 8 | No | |
| Windows 7 | Yes |
Microsoft notes that existing metadata will remain available in the player (metadata that was downloaded already) and that the termination won't affect primary features of either media player. Some features, those that rely on metadata, may be affected, however.
Why is Microsoft making the change?
According to Microsoft, the decision was made based on customer feedback and usage data.
After looking at customer feedback and usage data, Microsoft decided to discontinue this service. This means that new metadata won’t be updated on media players that are installed on your Windows device.
Closing Words
Windows customers who use Windows Media Center on all supported versions of Windows or Windows Media Player on Windows 7, won't be able to update or download metadata from Microsoft's metadata service anymore going forward.
It is unclear why Microsoft made the decision to terminate the metadata service this year and not next. Windows 7 runs out of support in January 2020; terminating the service then would certainly sit better with customers who use the service.
You can check out our Windows Media Center alternatives article to find a suitable media player that continues to support metadata.
Now You: Are you affected by the change? (via Born, Deskmodder)
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277