Mike,
Thanks for offering to look at some sample files; however, at the moment I don't yet have a hosting space for sample files. (Will soon, though.)
In the meantime, I've managed to MP3 encode satisfactorily at 64kbps and 128 by using WinLame, a GUI for Lame. WinLame gave me more options for encoding than Audacity does. My understanding is that WinLame uses its own, specially compiled version of the dll. But which particular Lame release WinLame was built upon, I couldn't discover. Anyway, I'm tempted to geek out on this and try to understand why Audacity's encoder doesn't work well, while WinLame's does. But I need to move forward with my project, so I'll resist that tangential geek urge--for now.
If Todd ever reads this post, it would be useful and interesting to know what encoding process and tools he uses. . . .
Seedpress