Windows 11: New Media Player now Supports Audio CDs

Microsoft made the new media player available to the first users of the dev channel in the fall of 2022 and has also been available through the beta channel since early February. It replaces the previous Groove Music app. But there’s a reason the player isn’t generally available yet.

The new generation might ask what are CDs?

Because the new media player is and will remain a construction site for the time being. While that doesn’t mean it works poorly or not, there are still important functionalities that are yet to be added. This also includes support for audio CDs. Because how? as noted Microsoft states in a footnote to the recently published Insider Preview that from version 11.2202.42.0 the playback of classic audio CDs is supported. It is of course questionable how many users nowadays have even noticed that the media player could not play classic compact discs with music before.

Because hardly anyone would use the PC to listen to CDs and instead use streaming services like Spotify or alternatively use MP3s or other audio files. Not to mention the technical requirements: while a few years ago it was completely unthinkable that a PC or laptop without a drive for CD, DVD or even Blu-ray could be sold or bought, nowadays it is rather a rarity to find a computer with a drive – after all, most users get programs, games, music, movies and whatever else available digitally over the internet.

Small CD comeback

The CD is now celebrating a surprising mini-comeback: As the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced in its just-released annual report, CD revenues rose slightly last year – for the first time in 18 years.