Luddite here: I hate syncing my phone. It freezes my computer. It freezes my phone. Apple tries to install new stuff that may or may not work etc etc etc. I just find it very unfun to sync my phone.
You're not the only one. I still remember the iPod days where syncing might mean "erase all of your music and replace it with the 5 songs on the computer you plugged it in to."
I don't trust apple, and it's really sad, because they generally have some good products.
Look at what happened to the iPhone 3G when you "upgraded" it to the new OS; it stopped being functional (answering a call could take 5-10 seconds. Launching an app equally long, etc). To the point where I actually had to jailbreak mine to get it into a usable state again.
I know I'm wrong, but my perception is that when iTunes gets a new version, the new version is there to take away some previous functionality (breaking things like ourtunes, for instance).
So while I have synced my phone, I generally avoid it. Every time the "syncing" screen comes up, I cancel it.
There is a "Manually manage music" checkbox for iPods, which lets you drag and drop stuff mostly like any other device. If you hate syncing so much, why haven't you just checked that?
Syncing works for me, and probably does for most other people out there as well. In most cases, it's pretty good at putting the latest and greatest on my device without me having to do much except plug it in. If that doesn't work for you, okay, but if the manual option is there, why aren't you using it?
Syncing worked well for several of my non-technical friends until they plugged it into another computer and it nuked their music. Most people don't realize that's an issue until it happens.
Apple's entire stack (hardware, software, support software) is built on the assumption that you're going to play by their rules.
Example 1: "erase all of your music and replace it with the 5 songs on the computer you plugged it in to"
If you plug your iPod in to a computer and "sync" it, and said computer only has 5 songs on it, what do you expect to happen? Apple intends for you to sync your iPod with your own music library. Anything else is sacrilege in the church of the RIAA, and is therefore not accommodated.
Example 2: "Look at what happened to the iPhone 3G when you "upgraded" it to the new OS; it stopped being functional (answering a call could take 5-10 seconds. Launching an app equally long, etc). To the point where I actually had to jailbreak mine to get it into a usable state again."
I used an iPhone 3G on iOS 4. It was bad. It was slow and unreliable. I'm not sure why they didn't lock it to iOS 3, other than the fact that Apple marches forward, with or without its user base. I guess maybe that's Apple's message to us. "We're headed that'a way, with or without you."
Example 3: "...the new version is there to take away some previous functionality (breaking things like ourtunes, for instance)"
Straight from OurTunes FAQ: "ourTunes is the continuation of several open source projects designed to allow you to browse and download from other people's iTunes Music Shares." Are you really surprised that Apple broke this? Apple believes in forming relationships with organizations like the RIAA. It's the reason they were able to deliver products like iTunes Match. Large portions of iTMS + iCloud feature set couldn't have been done without these agreements. Look at the legal battle that Amazon and Google are facing because they didn't get a deal signed.
Now, don't get me wrong. None of the examples I rebutted above mean you're wrong. It just means that you're trying to use your device in a way that Apple didn't design it to be used. That's a huge ideological road block for some people. I don't blame you one bit.
For anyone who doesn't want to walk the Apple path, I think there are better choices. However, that doesn't mean you'll have less yak shaving to do, it just means that the manufacturer won't stand in your way.
Example 1: Except that "sync" is far removed from what the overwhelming majority of people wanted to do with their device. The idea was to plug it in, and get some of the music from my friend's computer.
Does this go against what Apple wants? Yes. Obviously, and for obviously reasons.
Example 2: Oh come on. They intentionally broke the phone in hopes that it would get people to upgrade to an iPhone4. This had nothing to do with "marching forward", installing iOS4 on the 3G hardware was a mistake, and if apple didn't know that it was a mistake, they're incompetent (and they're not incompetent).
Example 3: I think this highlights exactly what we're talking about here. Apple doesn't have their users interest in mind, which is why some of us don't trust them.
I think maybe you misread me. I'm not saying you're wrong for wanting these things, but you have to acknowledge these facts:
The music industry doesn't want you doing exactly what you outline in example 1; don't be surprised when companies who are in bed with them support their position.
Example 2: That's what "marching forward with or without you" is. They upgraded iOS without much regard for users on hardware that was only a generation old. I suffered through the same thing. I'm pretty sure we're agreeing here.
Example 3: You seem to be conflating trust with expectation. Trust is "Believe in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of" according to Google. I trust that Apple is going to behave exactly as they always have. You might expect them to do something different, but that doesn't have anything to do with trust. If you do trust them to do something like enable you to copy music from your friends' computers through a simple sync utility, your trust is misplaced, and my point still stands. You might have unresolvable ideological differences with Apple.
My iPhone 3G currently runs iOS 4 without any issues. Overall it is at about the same speed as it was before on iOS 3. That being said, my iPad 2 is blazing fast and I can't wait to have the money saved up to upgrade.
I avoid updating iTunes because every time I do Apple has introduced some new gimmick that's taking another 256mb of ram and making it less useful to run in the background. On my netbook I can barely use iTunes and open a Google Doc because the scrolling causes the music to stutter. I've actually started using WMP when I have a lot of work to do in Docs as it's the only way I'm not hearing stammering music.
Strange how the only thing I've changed on my netbook in literally a year is iTunes and it never used to pull this shit before that Genius and DJ thing appeared.
The worst thing about iTunes on the Mac is that it's absolutely killed the market for any kind of alternative player. I started writing a simpler, leaner player a few years ago but gave up when I realized nobody was going to use it.
The best thing they could do is enhance playback from the Finder a little bit, so you could play not just one track but a whole 'folder'/album. Maybe you can do this on Lion.
iTunes is an abomination at this point. I prefer using Spotify even just for local files.
I strongly advise you to try foobar2000 or pretty much any other music player but iTunes if you're on Windows. Once I switched, a good deal of my computer frustration was gone. iTunes on Windows is a freezing, memory hogging, constantly updating, useless feature adding piece of crap. Virtually all its major competitors are much, much better. I hear it's not so bad on a Mac, but avoid it like the plague if you're on Windows.
