You're trying to burn a playlist to a CD in Windows Media Player (WMP) on Windows 10 or 11. The burn starts, then stops with a red error message: "The specified track has exceeded it's specified playlist burn limit in this playlist." The code is 0XC00D2770. This often happens when you're burning a playlist that contains a song you've already burned multiple times before, maybe from a previous CD or the same playlist you've used a few times.
The root cause is DRM—digital rights management. When you buy music from an online store (like the old Zune Marketplace, or some iTunes purchases), the file carries a license that limits how many times you can burn it to a CD. The limit is per playlist, not per track. So if you've burned the same playlist three times already, and the license allows five burns, you're fine. But if you've burned it seven times and the limit is five, you're stuck.
Here's the thing: that limit is tracked in the file's metadata, but it's also tied to the playlist's unique ID. If you create a brand-new playlist and add the same track to it, the burn count resets. That's the single best fix, and it works in 90% of cases.
Fix 1: Burn a New Playlist
This is the easiest fix and doesn't require any technical know-how. Here's what you do:
- Open Windows Media Player. Go to the Burn tab (top right corner).
- Click Clear list to remove any tracks already in the burn list.
- In the left pane, go to Music and find the track that's causing the error. You might want to note the file name.
- Drag that track to the burn list on the right. After you drag it, you'll see it in the list—don't worry about the count yet.
- Now, right-click on the track in the burn list, and choose Remove from list.
- Drag the same track from the library back to the burn list again. This sounds weird, but it resets the internal playlist ID that WMP is using.
- Click Start burn.
After clicking Start burn, you should see the CD burner spin up and the progress bar move. If you get a pop-up about the file being protected, accept it—that's normal.
Why does this work? When you remove and re-add the track, WMP treats it as a new playlist entry, so the burn counter starts fresh. It's not a hack—it's just how the DRM system tracks the playlist, not the file itself.
Fix 2: Move the Track to a Different Folder
If the first fix doesn't solve it, the file's burn count might be stored in the file's properties, not just the playlist. Moving the file to a new location forces WMP to treat it as a new file.
- Close Windows Media Player.
- Open File Explorer and find the track. The default music folder is
C:\Users\[YourUsername]\Music. - Right-click the track and select Cut (or press Ctrl+X).
- Go to a different folder, like
C:\Users\[YourUsername]\Music\NewBurn(create it if needed). - Press Ctrl+V to paste the file there.
- Reopen Windows Media Player, then go to File > Add to library and select the new folder. This adds the moved track to WMP's library.
- Now go to the Burn tab, clear the list, and drag the track from the new location to the burn list.
- Start burn.
Once the burn finishes, you can keep the track in that folder or move it back—it doesn't matter. The burn limit is stored per file path for some DRM schemes, so the new path resets it.
If It Still Fails
If you still see 0XC00D2770 after trying both fixes, the DRM license itself might be corrupted or expired. Here's one more thing to check:
- Look at the file's properties: right-click the track in WMP, select Properties, and go to the Media Usage Rights tab. It shows how many burns you have left. If it says 0, the license is used up.
- Try playing the track fully from start to finish. Sometimes refreshing the license requires a full playback.
- If you bought the track from an online store, sign in to your account and download the file again. That often gives you a fresh license.
In my experience, Fix 1 works nine times out of ten. Fix 2 handles the rest. The license-checking is finicky, but it's not random—it follows rules. Once you know the rules, you can work around them.