LAME VBR, with cover art.
I never installed drivers, Windows is using its own. Device manager shows it as an "MTP USB Device".
Here's something to try, out of curiosity. Have you let it convert any of them? You should try it with one of them and see what happens. Either that, or try using a program to load them on the player....WMP12, Mediamonkey, Winamp, etc.(obviously iTuns wouldn't work.
OK, I let it convert, and what looked like a normal copy box, with a progress bar, appeared. However, when I looked in process explorer, I saw that mfpmp.exe was running and using a good deal of cpu cycles.
After the copy box closed, I used MediaInfo to check the converted file, and here are the pertinent entries:
Format : MPEG Audio
File size : 44.3 MiB
Duration : 1h 4mn
Overall bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
File type : MPG/3
Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : Intensity Stereo + MS Stereo
Duration : 1h 4mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Stream size : 44.3 MiB (100%)
Here's the Mediainfo output for the original file:
Format : MPEG Audio
File size : 32.0 MiB
Duration : 1h 4mn
Overall bit rate : 69.4 Kbps
Writing library : LAME3.91
Cover : Yes
Cover type : Cover (front)
Cover MIME : image/jpeg
Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Duration : 1h 4mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 69.4 Kbps
Minimum bit rate : 40.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Stream size : 32.0 MiB (100%)
Writing library : LAME3.91
Encoding settings : -m m -V 0 -q 0 -lowpass 10 --vbr-old -b 40
So, the converted file is bigger, in stereo, has a constant bit rate, and the cover art has been stripped.
I don't know why it does that, as the player isn't bothered by VBR or the cover art.
The only programs you suggest trying that I have are Winamp and WMP12, and I can't figure out how to use them to copy the files to the player!
I've never used them for that, I just use explorer.