Update!
So after forsaking all actual work in favor of seeking a fix for this, I rolled back the driver on my pc.
Yep.
This is the version that worked:
Certified Windows XP drivers for Creative NOMAD Jukebox 2,3, Zen and Zen USB 2.0, version 1.20.04c
12 Jun 03
This, rather than the driver date October 06 worked just fine...