I figured out the problem in my particular case. It turns out that it was due to having the Rockbox firmware "active" when doing the sync. With Rockbox, you have the choice of having the iPod boot with the Rockbox firmware, or with the original Apple firmware. If I plug the iPod it while the Rockbox firmware is loaded, the sync shows speeds in the 1's and 2's. If, on the other hand, I boot the iPod to the original Apple firmware before plugging it in, the sync goes MUCH faster -- I saw upper 3's, 4's and even occasional low 5's when synching it this way. In each case, I initialized first, so it was completely empty before each sync.
In other words, you can have the iPod set up to use Rockbox -- you just need to boot it to the original firmware before actually doing the sync. After this, you can reboot it and let the Rockbox firmware load once again.
ADDiCT -- do you happen to be using Rockbox on your iPod? If so, boot to the original Apple firmware by rebooting the unit (hold down "Menu" and the center button to do this) then holding down "Menu" while the unit boots. If you held your finger steady, the unit will boot to the Apple firmware. Plug the iPod in and try another sync at this point.
Larry