The final 1.01 release might fix your problem. You said you had the player freeze on you (not emptool). There is a note in the 1.01 final release notes saying that they fixed a problem where the player might intermittently freeze during synchs.

I don't know when 1.01 final will be announced- I got it today because I'm an alpha tester (and Mike, if you're listening, it's been working fine for me, you ought to post it on the main web site).

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Tony Fabris