If iPod's are so great, why are they so annoying?

I'm so sick of having to convert my CDs manually through iTunes. As a program iTunes sucks, it's not user-friendly, slow and just uses up valuable space on my PC. Seriously, why now just let us import regular MP3 files onto our iPods via a USB connection. It would be more convenient and save time and effort. And can all you apple-head please refrain from the "apple products are exclusive so that no-one can break them with corrupted files" argument and give me other reasons why it has to be exclusive.