Anyhow, I reinstalled WMP 10 after uninstalling and no dice............... the weirder part is that I can play RM files online (Over the cable internet connection) without this speed issue - it seems to be ONLY a WMP issue.
Additional factors are that the computer is connected to a wireless router, has 2 gig RAM and is a Soyo Dragon 2 v2.0 using the Soyo website audio driver