After the latest Microsoft update, I found that my original solution was no longer working. So, after some hunting around, I can confirm that this is now the new, proper solution for correcting WMP in Windows 10 (and thanks to Chris-itsmee)...
...BUT...
...there are a couple of additional few steps involved, i.e. we need to remove the XBox app, because this is the app that keeps replacing "fai.music.metaservices.microsoft.com" with its own sub-standard offering.
This, then, is the new solution I'm putting out for you guys, because it works for me:
STEP 1: update the registry
- Start regedit.exe
- Navigate to "Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\TunerConfig"
- Look for setting PREFERREDMETADATAPROVIDER -- it should have a value "pmpMusicMatch"
- Edit the setting PREFERREDMETADATAPROVIDER, and clear the value so you have a blank value OR enter "fai.music.metaservices.microsoft.com"
- Save / exit regedit.exe
STEP 2: remove the XBox app from Windows. (This is detailed in https://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-remove-all-built-in-apps-in-windows-10/)
- Open the Windows 10 Search Bar, and type in PowerShell.
- Right-click the PowerShell app and click “Run as administrator”.
- Type the following command and press the Enter key: Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxApp | Remove-AppxPackage
- Wait until the process is finished. It should only take a few seconds to run.
- Type exit and press the Enter key to exit PowerShell.
- Exit Windows
When you restart Windows, and then restart Windows Media Player, you should be restored back to fai.music.metaservices.microsoft.com.
Once again, this is a royal pain in the proverbial, and you should feel rightly aggrieved in having to do this.
when attempting to remove the Xbox app from windows received the following editor errors: The first was as above and the second was done in case there was to be a space where the line break was
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-AppxPackageMicrosoft.XboxApp | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackageMicrosoft.XboxApp : The term 'Get-AppxPackageMicrosoft.XboxApp' is not recognized as the name of a
cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify
that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
- Get-AppxPackageMicrosoft.XboxApp | Remove-AppxPackage
-
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Get-AppxPackageMicrosoft.XboxApp:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxApp \ Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'Remove-AppxPackage'.
At line:1 char:1
- Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxApp \ Remove-AppxPackage
-
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-AppxPackage], ParameterBindingException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.GetAppxPackag
eCommand