Someone else was saying they also had problems with USB and that upgrading the driver didn't work, so I don't disbelieve you, but first I want to make sure:

You did read the release notes and install the new USB driver by hand, correct?

Next thing to check is to make sure USB works correctly for other USB devices on your system. For example, a flash-memory reader or a USB mouse. (Other guy also said this was all fine, we're just eliminating the simple things first.)

Next, can you get the player synching with ethernet instead of USB? (To rule out problems with the player's hard disk or some such.)