Windows 7: WMP12 recognising files in the library

Hi from a newbie,
Firstly apologies if this has been asked before (I have had a look).
Windows 7 professional, Windows Media Player 12.
When an album of mp3 tracks, maybe downloaded from amazon, or ripped from a Cd, is saved to the 'My music' folder, WMP12 automatically includes it in the library and it shows in the library pane with cover art and everything looks and plays correctly.
Trouble is, the next time I run WMP after it's been closed for shutdown or whatever, the album is gone from the library, or at least it doesn't show anywhere. It won't reappear if I force a library update even though the folder is scanned.
'My music' is the only folder I have designated for WMP to check into the library, and that's where all the mp3s are, including the ones it won't show. The only albums it shows are those I imported when Windows 7 was run for the first time on my machine. Since then it does the 'now you see it now you don't trick' every time I rip or download a track.
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Hi there, and welcome to the forums..

Why not try backing up your mp3s - just in case. Then delete the music library (library - not music folder). Then open WMP and file -> Manage Libraries -> Music (see screen shot) and delete the C:\users\yourname\music folder from the WMP library. Close WMP.

Now recreate your music library: Right click on libraries in explorer New -> Library. Indicate your music folder and name it as you like. Then reopen WMP and include this in the library.

You might also want to rebuild a corrupted search index.
Post back with updates...

Thanks for the advice. I did all that you suggested, and WMP imported the 'new' library files after the clearout. Unfortunately, it's exactly the same. the only music that appears in the library pane is what I transfered over from my previous machine which was running XP and I think WMP11. Anything I've ripped with WMP12 on this machine since then will not show. The only way to play it is to select it in the My Music folder using explorer and 'play with windows media player'. It's happy to play the music file but once it's finished, the album or track isn't in the library.
I can't understand what's wrong, and the only way to keep things organised might be to look for an independent media management program and ditch use of WMP altogether
Very strange.

WMP12 is good, but not great. There are a lot of alternatives, both paid and free/open source; chances are that you will find yourself in need of a better organizer; I personally use WMP12 in certain situations only, and definitely not as the default music player. Nevertheless, you could have a go with rebuilding your library in a different way than the one allen suggested; the link for a tutorial is in my sig, it's quick and easy.

Hang on a minute. I didn't spot the link to 'rebuild a corrupted search index' until just now. I rebuilt the index as suggested, which took 5 mins, and behold! Media player now has everything recognised and in the library. I don't know why the search index would need rebuilding, it's an almost new machine which hasn't crashed or had any other problems as yet, but it seems to have done the trick.
Thank you guys. I would never have thought of Windows indexing. If I remember back with XP I disabled the indexing function to increase the processor speed and everything still worked fine. This new machine has Windows 7 running in its default state (bags of processor speed to spare) so I assumed all would be ok.
What I need to do now is to see if the next Cd I rip is automatically recognised or will need another index rebuild.
Computers! You gotta love 'em!

hehe glad you resolved it
let us know how it worked out for you

Welcome!