Where are Windows Media Player Files?

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Guest

Hi Everyone

I use a laptop -- Windows XP, SP2. I have begun to create a library of my
mp3 recordings,using Windows Media Player. I would like to back up any files
or folders which I develop to an external hard drive in case of any crash.

Can someone please advise me where I can find such folder, and also what
file extensions might be involved?

I thank in advance anyone who can assist.
 
Hi Tonyo,

Start/search, look for *.mp3 on the entire system. It should point you to
where you have been storing these files. Mp3 is a file extension unto
itself, unless you have been saving in another format (like .wav), then you
should not have to search for any other types.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Search is good, by default XP stores music content in "My Music".
This is normally, a sub-folder of your My Documents. If any of the
music is DRM'd (Digital Rights Management), you'll also want to do
a backup of your licenses for the songs.
 
Thank you Messrs Rogers and McCarty for showing an interest in my problem. I
did not know that *mp3 was a valid extension. However I was already aware
where I had placed my mp3 recordings. Backing them up is not the problem.

The problem is that when one creates a library in WMP one transfers the
information of the mp3 originals to a page or pages in WMP where one
reorganizes the information under such headings as Title, Artist, Album,
Genre. This takes a great deal of time. However, the payoff is that one can
then attach an mp3 player to the computer and download the library to the mp3
player with all the new headings intact.

If, however, one is obliged to format the computer, the information stored
in the Library, with all the proper headings, will be lost, unless there is a
way to back up the actual page one has created in WMP.

If either of you knows where the WMP pages are hidden, could you please let
me know? I would be most grateful if you could.
 
Tonyo said:
Thank you Messrs Rogers and McCarty for showing an interest in my problem. I
did not know that *mp3 was a valid extension. However I was already aware
where I had placed my mp3 recordings. Backing them up is not the problem.

The problem is that when one creates a library in WMP one transfers the
information of the mp3 originals to a page or pages in WMP where one
reorganizes the information under such headings as Title, Artist, Album,
Genre. This takes a great deal of time. However, the payoff is that one can
then attach an mp3 player to the computer and download the library to the mp3
player with all the new headings intact.
Click to expand...

[cross-posted to the windowsmedia.player newsgroup]

The index file for WMP is not readable. You can extract *some* of the
information from it using various plugins (see
http://www.zachd.com/pss/pss.html#printplaylists) but WMP actually
writes the information back to your music files provided
a) your files are not read only; and
b) it doesn't forget to do so :-(

The information about the music (called "metadata") gets onto your MP3
player because it is in the music files, not because of WMP's index file.
If, however, one is obliged to format the computer, the information stored
in the Library, with all the proper headings, will be lost, unless there is a
way to back up the actual page one has created in WMP.
Click to expand...

Backing up the index file is actually kind of pointless, because WMP
doesn't even refer to it when it upgrades versions. Transfering it to
another machine is only useful if you move all your media files to the
same place on the other machine.
 
Tonyo said:
Thank you Messrs Rogers and McCarty for showing an interest in my problem. I
did not know that *mp3 was a valid extension. However I was already aware
where I had placed my mp3 recordings. Backing them up is not the problem.

The problem is that when one creates a library in WMP one transfers the
information of the mp3 originals to a page or pages in WMP where one
reorganizes the information under such headings as Title, Artist, Album,
Genre. This takes a great deal of time. However, the payoff is that one can
then attach an mp3 player to the computer and download the library to the mp3
player with all the new headings intact.

If, however, one is obliged to format the computer, the information stored
in the Library, with all the proper headings, will be lost, unless there is a
way to back up the actual page one has created in WMP.

If either of you knows where the WMP pages are hidden, could you please let
me know? I would be most grateful if you could.

:
Click to expand...

It would be best if you posted to a windows media player newsgroup.
news://msnews.microsoft.com/public.multimedia.windows.mediaplayer
 
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