Ummm, so, thanks to all for the help and suggestions. Anyone want to guess? (Remember, it's been a while since I've used it, and just replaced the drive)...
As part of further troubleshooting, I connected to the Central over USB, for the first time on the new drive (hint). Once connected, I went to player configuration, gave the player a name, and looked at the Password tab. Guess what's on there (only when connected over USB)... A checkbox that says "Allow emplode to connect over network". I sheepishly checked that box, and syncronized.
It works much better now. ;-)
Thanks again,
Chris