Eugene! WOW! You are right on!!!
I would never have guessed this, but where it works I am using jdk1.3 and where it doesn't work I am using jdk1.4. I actually don't need the contentLength, I was using it to tell me whether the connection was successful or not. I guess I will just go ahead and read the thing and not worry aout the content length.
MAN I OWE YOU A BEER! THANKS!
Thanks for sending me the private message on this too.