I don't know if this has been reported already but for MediaMonkey, the /np seems to use the Winamp detection (which when using MM only shows artist - title and doesn't display unicode) however, when a contact uses the !np remote command, it detects it properly with MediaMonkey as shown in this picture here:
edit: didn't realise it was /Mnp to make it show MediaMonkey now playing
Also, there's a plugin for Foobar2000 that allows it to load Winamp scripts which allows this script to detect what's playing, that's what my friend is using.