Digital BW, The Print

The discussion of printing on Ilford glossy and semi-glossy papers 
motivated me to try Epson semi-gloss (Color Life Paper).  I printed 
with the MIS-VM inks, a 1200 and the Paul Roark's curves (mw).  I 
tried both the "standard" Roark paper setting and "glossy film" (not 
a lot of difference between them).

The prints are surprisingly close to EAM with several important 
exceptions.  They are much warmer (is this bronzing?) and there is a 
considerable loss of detail in the shadow areas.  I assume the shadow 
detail can be fixed by playing with transfer curves and the warming, 
to some extent, by printing with either the neutral or cool curve.  
The real downside is that the inks rub off the paper and I gather 
that this will not go away with time, so some sort of a spray is in 
order. 

Any comments would be appreciated.  Would one of the Ilford papers be 
worth trying with the VM inks and a 1200?  Is it worth the trouble?  
Am I better off learning to coat EAM?

Steve