Geez I use iTunes for everything and it works fine. Have you tried the tutorials?
The synchronization between all the household I-devices is flawless and simple (maybe it's just me...
). Macbook, Apple TV, iPad, two iPhones... No issues. I dunno - I found iTunes to have a bit of a learning curve but once I did the tutorials and really played with it for an hour or two it became second nature and the iTunes Store a great resource for content that plays anywhere, anytime. Way easier than a bunch of mp3s, lots of files in different formats, etc.