Problem with my Philips GoGear Muse MP4 player

Ever since I purchased my Philips GoGear Muse MP4 player in 2010, I've regularly put video content on to the device.

After experimenting with both the Philips Songbird software and Windows Media Player, I came to prefer the latter option for transferring content and thus uninstalled Songbird.

Originally, the only video format which would sync without conversation was WMV. However, after I installed the K-Lite codec pack on my computer, I discovered that a fortunate side-effect was that AVI and MP4 files suddenly began syncing without needing to be converted.

Soon after this discovery, I had to reinstall my operating system due to an unrelated problem. However, by again installing the K-Lite codec pack, I was able to resume the status quo of syncing AVI and MP4 files without conversion.

And that was the way things remained until last week, when I tried to find out if there were any new firmware updates for my player.

In order to check for firmware updates, you have to have Songbird installed. So, for the first time since I reinstalled my operating system - I downloaded and installed the software.

Not only wasn't there any new updates, but by installing Songbird - I unintentionally messed things up on my computer.

Suddenly, every time I connected my player, Songbird would automatically load itself. Now, because the software was no longer any use to me, I once again uninstalled it.

However, things didn't revert back to the way they had been prior to installation.

Soon afterwards, when I attempted to transfer an AVI file via Windows Media Player, it began converting instead of automatically syncing. And the same happened when I tried an MP4 file.

Essentially, things had gone back to the way they were when I first bought the player.

So, I began trying to rectify the problem. The first idea I had was to try system restore - however I quickly discovered that I'd foolishly forgotten to set up any restore points.

Next, I tried reinstalling Songbird - and then uninstalling it using Revo Uninstaller - in order to try and remove any lingering traces of the software. This also proved to be unsuccessful.

Then I tried uninstalling the drivers for my GoGear Muse and then re-connecting the device, so that fresh drivers would be downloaded. Again, no joy.

And that's the way things are right now. Videos, which last week took only seconds to transfer, are now taking 20-30 minutes.

If anyone has any advice on how this problem can be resolved, I'd greatly appreciate it.