Hi Rob,
ahh now i get what you wanted to show. We should place just for previewing purposes the original 2 page/1 spread file in an document with 1 page which has the size of the spread. Hmm. Not a bad idea. I just see the problem in opening the original file and refreshing the indd preview container doc.
I'll give it a try and discuss this. But its just a workaround. And it would be better if the InDesign team would add an option to choose whether the previews are saved as spreads or single pages.
Yes CS4 ist 5 or 6 years old but we used it a long time and developed the workflow.