Some MP3 songs Invisible to iTunes - Repeatable Problem!

This may sound familiar to avid readers of this forum, but I haven't gotten any of the previously offered solutions to work for me.
I have spent countless hours over the past two years ripping/digitizing my embarasingly-huge CD and LP collections to MP3s so I can use them with my iPod and whole-house media server. And yes, they are all valid MP3s- no AAC, WMA, or anything else. I used several different methods, bitrates and programs for putting together my MP3 collection, but all are of songs from CDs or LPs that I legally own. For the last year or so, I have successfully used Windows Media Player and MusicMatch for organizing and playing my files- and everything still works fine when I use these programs.
But a few months ago I got a 40GB iPod and have been struggling to use iTunes with my MP3 collection ever since. The problem is that about 20% of my collection seem to be completely invisible to iTunes (v6). I first noticed this when MusicMatch (and Windows) reported that I have several thousand more files than iTunes reports.
I've isolated the problematic files by copying my entire MP3 collection to a new, empty folder, instructing iTunes to add the entire folder to the iTunes Library, and then telling iTunes to remove all songs it knows about and send the files to the recycle bin. I then took a look at the folder and was shocked to find it still contained thousands of my MP3 files, even though the Library showed it was empty! I then tried adding these files back into the iTunes Library. iTunes said "Adding... " while quickly scrolling the file names in the window. But when it was done, none of these files appeard in the Library.
What's up with THAT??!!
I have verified that all of these files have apparently-valid ID3v2 tags. Removing any ID3v1 (but leaving the v2) tags does not help.
Re-ripping the songs from CD using the latest version of iTunes, MusicMatch or Roxio does appear to solve the problem- but the thought of re-ripping every song a second time from hundreds of my CDs is very unappealing. I'd rather just not use iTunes at all than to do that. As I mentioned earlier, MusicMatch and Windows Media Player have absoluetly no problem with these files.
I've even tried re-tagging every file with MusicMatch "super tagging", but this made no difference.
I'm running out of ideas. Does anyone have any idea what may be going on here, and how to fix it? I'd really like to get iTunes working for me without having to re-rip my apparently-okay files.
I'd be happy to e-mail a short (20 second) test MP3 file that is invisible to iTunes to anyone who sends me their e-mail address and thinks that they can help.
Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry for the very long post.
Dave K.

Similar problem but it's not always the same song or same cutoff point and mine are MP3. Plus, it happens to songs that I imported from CD using iTunes. We have 2 Nanos in the household and it has never happened on them. I finally sprung for the 160GB and am now experiencing it. There are several other forums discussing the same thing!

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