I LOVE itunes for its simplicity to update the iPod. Drag and drop is SO old-school. Here's why - I like to manage my music quite actively, meaning keeping the tags updated, rename if required and what not. And I want to see those changes in the iPod that I use in car. If it were drag and drop, I would have to seek out the exact files I updated, then delete them from iPod (can become a chore if I renamed the files) and then track down say 200 files 30 folders and drag and drop them.
With itunes, all I do is update the tags in itunes, and then connect the iPod. iTunes figures out what files have changed and updates them automatically. What can be simpler?!
To some of the complains above:
1) If you use WMP, you do NOT need to make another copy of songs for iTunes. Just point itunes to your music folder and it can pick them from there. You can decide whether you want itunes to rename and organize your files or not. I like that option as it keeps files organized very nicely.
2) It DOES play mp3! ALL my files are mp3. If you import CDs using itunes, you can change the default settings from AAC to MP3 easily and it will use that for all its conversions. So no, you DON'T need to change the format to use itunes and load them to iPod.
3) You don't need to drag file by file for shuffle etc. Just create a custom playlist and add songs to it from the itunes library. Setup shuffle options to sync only with that playlist, and voila the shuffle syncs easily with that playlist.
Yes, there may be a SLIGHT learning curve to setup the options and setup playlists, but once you do it it really pays off. E.g. I have automated playlists that pick songs from 2007 onward that I rated more than 3 stars from my favorite genres. All I do is maintain tags in files and update ratings, and the playlist is updated automatically and ready to go in iPod and then the car.
Please spend a LITTLE amount of time reading and learning to use it before bashing it and claiming it doesn't have features that it does!
