I hate iTunes, but I can't see why anyone would avoid Apple purely because of it. I almost never use the gui for anything.
Dump all your music in the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder, plug in your iPhone, done. Can't see why people consider it an issue.
iTunes is not the only pain the in arse though is it
Just about all my devices use Micro USB now (chargers, USB cables, in-car chargers)
I only need one set of cables for HTC, TomTom, Samsung, Kindle etc
I'm f*cked if I'm going to shell out for a load of proprietary brick from Apple
The lack of HDMI and memory card slots is also very frustrating
And iOS whilst slick, still lacks basic features I need on a mobile:
- proper email attachments
- flash support
- smart dialling
- social networking links
- double tab zoom/resize browser
- decent video support
- change resolution (camera)
- 3G ON/OFF
All these work perfectly on Android (and have done for 2.5 years). For advanced users, Android is always one step ahead (as proved by multi-tasking, wifi hotspot etc)
I don't want to wait months or years for basic features, whilst Apple tinkle about with useless crap like Siri