Fixing the VBR headers with MP3TS should have done the trick for you.

Agreed, but even I tried that - no dice ... though loading the file in other players besides the empeg doesn't show any adverse running times.

VBRFix, OTOH, does fix it. (Now, what is it doing that MP3TS isn't? I may check the source more closely.) VBRFix is also one of those utilities I can't run for very long, lest my system slows to a permanent crawl (memory leak, perhaps - anyone else having this issue? I may take a stab at fixing it if that's the case).