Like has been reported by others in both the Version 8 and 9 forums but apparently still unresolved, I too am consistently encountering the "Gathering Information and updating view..." message followed by a completely unresponsive MJ (v8 and v9) that can only be deleted by rebooting my Windows XP machine.
It happens any time a CD is installed to be played or ripped. MJ attempts to update the track list (as the message indicates at the bottom of the MJ frame), and produces the "Gathering Information" pop-up. Through my router, I can see attempts of communication every 5 seconds or so, but MJ is well and truly hooped.
Unhappy with all the bloat and subscription nonsense of what is now RealOne Player, I thought I'd found a really good replacement, but alas, a program that dies like this is, unfortunately, not the ultimate player I thought it was. I'd love to buy MJ, but the inability to handle a CD makes it pretty useless.
Unless I'm mistaken, in so many of the other posts on this subject, I do not see any responses from the developers. Not wanting to sound rude, but is anybody listening?