Windows Media Player has incorrect song title

I've converted a MP3 to a WAV using "Roxio-Copy and Convert". When I did the conversion , there was an old song title ( from a previous conversion ) in the name slot. After the conversion I simply renamed the song to the correct name.
If I play that song with any other software , it will have the correct name , if I use windows media player - it defaults back to the old name in the "Now Playing" screen.
If I look at the song properties , there is no trace of the old name anywhere - how is media player finding this old ( incorrect ) name , and how do I stop it ?
Problem is I have converted many songs with the wrong name - so its not just happening with one song.

donnie1 said:

I've converted a MP3 to a WAV using "Roxio-Copy and Convert".

Why would you do this?

MP3 is a "lossy" format that is compressed from an original WAV file, i.e. it was produced by analyzing the original CD track (i.e. WAV) and shrinking it according to various mathematical and psycho-acoustical algorithms. Depending on the "codec" used (e.g. LAME) to perform that WAV-to-MP3 encoding, the sound quality of your MP3 result could be good or bad, generally in inverse proportion to the file size of that MP3 file.

But the important thing about encoding-to-MP3 is that you have PERMANENTLY LOST the original WAV quality. It is NOT POSSIBLE to recover those "lost bits" or original sound quality. IMPOSSIBLE MATHEMATICALLY!

There is no utility from any vendor that can reproduce the original WAV from an MP3. You can "convert" from MP3 format to WAV format, but it will sound 100% identical but be maybe 5 times larger... and also have NO TAG DATA (since WAV does not support tags).

So... why would you want to produce a WAV file from an MP3? WAV is simply (a) larger than an MP3 file and (b) does not support "tags" as MP3 does. So a WAV file is very UNFRIENDLY for portable music players, and similarly relatively worthless for Windows music players (since there is no additional tag data to display).

Did you want to put your MP3 files on a CD for playing? Many modern mechanical CD/DVD players (e.g. in new cars) can actually play MP3 files directly from a CD... just from the ordinary folder/file structure you'd use in Windows. In other words you just make a "data CD" from your MP3 files, not an "audio CD". So you don't need to create WAV versions of your MP3 files on a recordable CD to play it in a mechanical CD/DVD player, if your player can understand "MP3-CD" directly.

So if you have the proper player, then just drag/drop your MP3 folders/files onto a blank media to write a "copy", and your new modern CD/DVD/MP3 player will be able to navigate through the folders exactly like your PC and Windows Explorer can. It'll even understand the ID3 tag data inside of your MP3 files, something it could not do from the original WAV files (i.e. tracks) on the original CD, nor from the MP3-to-WAV re-conversions you just made with Roxio.


I just wanted to understand WHY you were converting from MP3 to WAV, and what your realistic expected results and usage were going to be.

Again... WAV does NOT HAVE ANY TAG DATA. Windows media player programs playing such WAV files have nothing more to work with than the external file name, presumed to be the song name. Only when playing alternate music formats (e.g. MP3, FLAC, APE, WMA, OGG, etc.) which DO have associated tag formats where you can have additional information such as album name, artist name, released year, genre, etc., can those players present the additional information as well.

“Why would you want to convert MP3 to WAV”. I thought the same as you ie if you are converting from a compressed format back to an uncompressed format , then the information ( and thus quality ) will not be recovered. This is not true – don’t ask me to explain why – but you can do the same experiment I did. Convert to MP3 and play in a good quality Hi Fi system ( I’m using a $7000 system ) or even good quality car system. Then convert that same MP3 back to a WAV , put on a CD and compare the two – I can tell you , the WAV from the CD is markedly better in quality. I suspect it has something to do with the dynamic range of a WAV coming from a CD compared to a MP3 file.
Regarding the Tag information – this just seems like a Microsoft attempt to be more like a Mac. I prefer Microsoft over Mac because in the past it has been more user specific ( ie you can set programs to behave how you want ) this is slowly changing so that you are forced to display how the programmer has set it ( just like a MAC ). In Windows 7 you don’t even have the option to display files how you have sorted them – if you want to do this , then you are required to modify the registry. If I name a file , then it probably means that is what I want to see displayed when searching or viewing a file. This might be because the original file name is too long to display on the MP3 screen , or maybe I have 2 versions of the same song and I want to be able to tell them apart. The Tag information is more of a gimmick , just like all the various apps. you can buy for your portable device. So if your into apps and discussing song statistics , then you probably would think the Tags are great , but if you are just someone trying to quickly find a particular song to play , then they are very annoying.