fai.music.metaservices.microsoft.com cannot access

Hi Robby 

I am having the same exact problem with WMP 12 on my Windows 7 PC.  It started for me on Friday (06/07/19) of last week.  I just chatted with a Tech support person on the Microsoft site and they were telling me that the site is working for them and that the problem of course is on my end.  I know that is not the case and that the site is down and they don't want to take any responsibility for the problem.  Like you I just want them to fix the down site and get it working again.  As far as I know this feature is not discontinued.  We just have to wait for them to grace us with there help by fixing there down server.  So hold on there and I will do the same.

I've just discovered this very same problem which has been driving me mad.

Trying to rip 100's of CD's to WMP and no data available as it keeps coming up with 'This page can't be displayed' when it tries to connect to the fai.music page.

I've searched around and it seems Microsoft have decided to end the service availability for certain operating systems. Below is a page I found with information regarding this issue....

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4488539/changes-metadata-services-windows-media-center-media-player

Hope this of use to you all. I'm now stuck trying to find another program/site etc, so, if anyone has any suggestions I'll be glad of an update.

I can't believe Microsoft have done this, it seems they are happy to shoot themselves in the foot as they are going to lose customers through WMP being such an essential tool for so many customers.

Here's a brief synopsis:-

Changes in metadata service affecting Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player

Applies to: Windows Media PlayerWindows MediaWindows 8.1 More

Going forward, you may be unable to view information (metadata) such as the title, genre, and artist for songs, and the director, actors, and cover art for movies in Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player. 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. However, any information that’s already been downloaded will still be available. 

This change doesn’t affect any major media player functionality such as playback, navigating collections, media streaming, and so forth. Only secondary features that require downloading of new metadata are potentially affected.

 There you go............

As an update from my response a few minutes ago I've just found out that it's part of the Microsoft attempt to persuade, sorry, bit of a typo there as I meant 'force' us on older systems to buy a new pc/laptop etc. They are ending support for Win 7 on the 14th of January 2020.

So, there you have it...........

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-7-end-of-life-support-information?icid=CXSMC_win7upgrade

Thank You Why-Wait for you response but that is ultimately the problem in the long run but not the problem right this moment.  Yes Windows 7 is getting shut down but the site for the music metadata is down and that is why none of us can use this function in WMP.  The article that you pasted doesn't surprise me as Microsoft has stopped updating the metadata service back in late 2017 and albums made from then till now have to be manually entered in but older albums should function like they always have.  Also if you read Robby's first post that started this thread he says that it stopped working on his Windows 7 Pro PC but it also isn't working on his Windows 10 PC at his work. That is because like I said the site is down and not working.  The metadata site for WMP has a long and trustworthy history of going down and it taking Microsoft forever to get it back up and running.  Don't be surprised if this takes into the beginning of July to the mid month of July before they have it fully up and running again. Like I said though thank you for your response it had some interesting information in it like you can use WMP in Windows 10 with a fully updated metadata service, that would be nice.

Thank You Why-Wait for you response but that is ultimately the problem in the long run but not the problem right this moment.  Yes Windows 7 is getting shut down but the site for the music metadata is down and that is why none of us can use this function in WMP.  The article that you pasted doesn't surprise me as Microsoft has stopped updating the metadata service back in late 2017 and albums made from then till now have to be manually entered in but older albums should function like they always have.  Also if you read Robby's first post that started this thread he says that it stopped working on his Windows 7 Pro PC but it also isn't working on his Windows 10 PC at his work. That is because like I said the site is down and not working.  The metadata site for WMP has a long and trustworthy history of going down and it taking Microsoft forever to get it back up and running.  Don't be surprised if this takes into the beginning of July to the mid month of July before they have it fully up and running again. Like I said though thank you for your response it had some interesting information in it like you can use WMP in Windows 10 with a fully updated metadata service, that would be nice.

Actually it is the problem now.

I have two machines - W7 and W10. W10 updates album info, W7 does not. I am assuming that the work environment for Robby runs proxy server that blacklists such database access.