Just got mine today and am able to get it working just fine usually on Win XP Pro, had to unplug the usb though wait a sec, put it back in and click refresh to get it to show up.
Downloaded teh 2.0 beta 11 and was having problems connecting to the player after I installed it using the new emplode program. It will see the player the first time, fail on the secon step of connection, then not see the player anymore unless I unplug the usb then plug it back in just to recieve the same error again. I havnt tried going through the ethernet yet though.