How to add music in FLAC to WMP 12 library?

[SHUTRcz]

Hi, I have some music in FLAC but i cant add that into WMP 12 library. How do that?

 

[Chappy]

Hi SHUTRcz, Welcome to the Forum!

You need CODECS that allow WMP to recognize the FLAC files since FLAC is not natively supported by WMP.
The lightest and best codec pack is Win7 Codecs. Also if you have 64bit Win7, there is a 64bit tools pack you need to be able to switch to the 32bit WMP so all files will work. Codec writers have been slow to develop 64bit codecs so we need to use the 32bit player that also comes with 64bit Windows.

Anyway, install the Codecs and the x64 tools if needed, only the codec pack if you have 32bit W7. If you have 64bit W7, after you install the tools go to Start - All Programs - Win7 Codecs - 64bit tools - default media player, and click the "set 32bit WMP as default" and then the "set 32bit registry item" to make 32bit WMP the default player. There is NO performance difference between the two players but 64bit is NOT supported by many codecs.

For Flac tag support, get WmpTagExtender and install it. Make sure it's enabled in WMP, go to Options in WMP, plug-in tab, click Background and it should show in there with a checkmark, check it if it's unchecked.

Now you need to re-scan your library so Flac will show, WMP should do this automatically but make sure.

Hope this helps.

 

[SHUTRcz]

It works now thanks!

 

[SHUTRcz]

Codecs works, but now I cant play .mkv files in MCE

 

[Bellerophon]

Same here.

Codecs works, but now I cant play .mkv files in MCE

Same happened to me after installing this codec on x64, I suspect it may be something to do with the x64. Previous versions of the codec (i.e. vista) distinguished between x86 and x64.

If any one has the answer I would be most interested.

 

[Chappy]

Hi

Did you have any other codec pack installed?
Any other packs may interfere and need to be uninstalled before installing Win7 Codec Pack.

Also as I noted in my first post, 2 versions of WMP exist in Vista and Win7 64bit OS's, a 32bit and 64bit WMP. Most everyone finds using the 32bit version of WMP is best and there is NO FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCE between the two. You don't get better playback or anything like that so using the tools in the x64 add-on to change the default player to the 32bit version is recommended.

Probably the best if problems continue is to try the VCP and Win7 Codec Pack forum MSFN Forums -> Vista Codec Package and see what Shark007 can do or say to help.

 

[Bellerophon]

Have now fixed it

Uninstalled all codecs shark win7 etc. and reinstalled cccp codec and old shark x64 on top of that, I now have mkv and mp4 back and playing in MCE.

 

[Californian]

On a related note...

Do you know how I can update my library? I tried to add folders to my Music library folder thingy from wmp, but it doesn't do the scan thing like wmp 11. I have 6 folders from the first and second times I added folders, but it won't scan any more for some reason or update the existing ones. Now that I can play all of my music with these FLAC plugins, I really want it to scan the library. Thanks!
Edit: I found the solution. For reference, I had to go to C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player and delete all the .wmdb files there. But now it has to reindex all of my thousands of songs. Oh well, it's better than not having them.

 

[MoAv]

I tried that, but it still can't detect FLAC's tag, plus it takes realy long time to add one flac, left it for a day to build the library but only 20 flacs were successfully embedded. all my mp3 already on it. On top of that there's a problem of seeking when playing those flacs. That's too bad I really liked WMP12 :huh:

 

[abel]

Similar Problem Here....

I really don't care much about Windows Media Player or Media Center but I would like to know how to get Windows 7 to add flac files to the music library. The libraries feature was supposed to be a big deal with Windows 7, but it is pretty useless to me because I encode in flac. I figure it has to be in the registry somewhere.

 

[Shark007]

If you're using the Shark007.net - Windows 7 Codecs go to the Help TAB and choose to associate filetypes to WMP.

 

[abel]

Still a no go...

Thanks for the reply. Well Window Media Player plays flac files now, but the files still do not show up in my Windows 7 music library. It's really no different than if I wanted files with a .txt extension to show in the music library. Somewhere there are settings that tell Windows which file extensions to include in the library called "Music". But where, and how to change them to include the .flac extension? Arrrg!

 

[Shark007]

They should now be listed under unknown artist as depicted in the attached screenshot

 

[Klaw117]

If you're using the Shark007.net - Windows 7 Codecs go to the Help TAB and choose to associate filetypes to WMP.

I did this, but WMP 12 still can't play .flac files. When I double click on the .flac files, the WMP 12 window opens, but all it does is give you 3 choices:
Play all music
Go to Library
Play previous list

Am I doing something wrong? WMP 12 won't even add these files to the library, but I did everything you said.

EDIT: Never mind, I fixed it, but I was forced to use the XIPH codecs, which ended up doing this:

Still, I just found a solution: XIPH
Try it out, after install it should work perfectly.

LOL @ works perfectly...
Nice solution except for the fact that it breaks several aspects on WMP.
For starters, WMP's open dialog is now hosed. It used to look like this:

but now the media dropdown list is missing.

In my opinion, putting up with a small annoyance, cannot seek, which only occurs when directly played, and can easily be avoided by choosing to use a rightclick of the FLAC file, and clicking on 'Add to Windows Media Player List', is better than hosing your system.

Still, I got the files to play and I don't really care about this issue too much, although if anyone knows how to get the files to play without XIPH, please let me know.

 

[dittbub]

Hi SHUTRcz, Welcome to the Forum!

You need CODECS that allow WMP to recognize the FLAC files since FLAC is not natively supported by WMP.
The lightest and best codec pack is Win7 Codecs. Also if you have 64bit Win7, there is a 64bit tools pack you need to be able to switch to the 32bit WMP so all files will work. Codec writers have been slow to develop 64bit codecs so we need to use the 32bit player that also comes with 64bit Windows.

Anyway, install the Codecs and the x64 tools if needed, only the codec pack if you have 32bit W7. If you have 64bit W7, after you install the tools go to Start - All Programs - Win7 Codecs - 64bit tools - default media player, and click the "set 32bit WMP as default" and then the "set 32bit registry item" to make 32bit WMP the default player. There is NO performance difference between the two players but 64bit is NOT supported by many codecs.

For Flac tag support, get WmpTagExtender and install it. Make sure it's enabled in WMP, go to Options in WMP, plug-in tab, click Background and it should show in there with a checkmark, check it if it's unchecked.

Now you need to re-scan your library so Flac will show, WMP should do this automatically but make sure.

Hope this helps.

I took these steps and now my FLACs show up and they do play, I can hear it.

But there are a couple problems:
- Length does not show on FLAC music
- Cannot seek FLAC music

I'd really like to be able to skip ahead in tracks and stuff and see the length of my albums. Here is a screen shot:

Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks!

Specs:
Win 7
AMD 3700 64 bit
2GB RAM
Pretty sure WMP is 32bit (shortcut points to x86 folder)

 

[AngelProcesser]

Review Posts made

This site has a nice search feature....it's available to all...this info has been posted repeatedly.

 

[Tim De Baets]

But there are a couple problems:
- Length does not show on FLAC music
- Cannot seek FLAC music

WMP Tag Plus is a new tag support plug-in that will fix these problems:

http://bmproductions.fixnum.org/wmptagplus

To prevent conflicts, it is recommended to uninstall or disable all other WMP tag support plug-ins before installing WMP Tag Plus.

 

[Pikey]

Thanks for this Tim! .. just what I've been looking for!

One thing though .. I found the seek bar and time display wouldn't work right away .. I had to delete my library , shut down WMP , then start it again to re-populate .. then everything was fine!

It might be worth pointing that out to folks if anyone's having problems.

In case anyone is wondering .. navigate to C:\Users\*yourname*\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player .. and delete the file currentdatabase_xxx is what I did.

Gaps between tracks are still a problem though .. any ideas??

 

[Tim De Baets]

Yes, it's true that after installing WMP Tag Plus, existing FLAC files need to be re-added to the library for the length and other tags to be filled in. However, this can be done much easier than having to delete the database file: select the FLAC files, right-click, select Delete, Delete from library only, and click OK. Re-add the files through Tools - Advanced - Restore deleted library items.

I'm not sure what you mean with gaps between tracks. Do you mean that crossfade doesn't work for FLAC files? This is a known limitation in WMP; crossfading only works for the default supported formats such as MP3 and WMA.

 

[Pikey]

Yes, it's true that after installing WMP Tag Plus, existing FLAC files need to be re-added to the library for the length and other tags to be filled in. However, this can be done much easier than having to delete the database file: select the FLAC files, right-click, select Delete, Delete from library only, and click OK. Re-add the files through Tools - Advanced - Restore deleted library items.

I'm not sure what you mean with gaps between tracks. Do you mean that crossfade doesn't work for FLAC files? This is a known limitation in WMP; crossfading only works for the default supported formats such as MP3 and WMA.

Yes, I noticed that the crossfade wasn't working .. thanks for the info Tim.

I think I'll experiment a bit more with EAC to see if there is something else in there I've missed with regard to FLAC output.