Transferring Files w/o Desktop Manager

Hi-
Could someone clarify for me whether it is possible to simply drag and drop files from a PC without DM being installed?
I'm going to be traveling/living outside the US for long periods of time with the Playbook as my sole tech companion.
I don't fancy the idea of having to install DM on some generous person's computer every time I want to swap movie files (the size of which more or less rules out the wifi option).
Would rooting the Playbook provide some alternatives?
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

drag and drop no problem

Yes it is possible. I rarely connect with desktop manager - just plug it in via USB and it shows as a drive under my computer.

Rather then dealing with cables and stuff, I just use the WiFi file transfer function, it's my bestest of friends. i do agree the time it takes to transfer things over WiFi is kinda ridiculous, but every once in awhile a movie will take 15 mins to transfer, leaving me thinking "Why the can't you do that everytime..."

As one poster said, you should find the playbook as a drive under My computer or whatever os you have similar to using a USB thumb drive or external disk drive if you plug it into a computer.

I do it on wifi all the time. You have to make sure wifi sharing is turned on for the playbook. I then just use the ip address of the playbook on the wifi network and access the playbook like it were an external hard drive.

Thanks for the fast replies guys!
The problem is that now (with no BB software installed) my Playbook shows up in Explorer as CD Drive (E:)
Inside that is a CD Setup Launcher for Blackberry Device Manager.
Do I have to install that or is there some setting I need to change inside the Playbook itself?
The only time I have ever been able to drag/drop is with Desktop Manager installed.
Then the Playbook shows up just like an external hard drive...

You must install Desktop Software to the PC before doing anything else, as I undrrstand it. After that, you don't need to touch it anymore.

Thank you for the advice, pigdude. I am now able to find my pictures

Does BB10 on the Z10 still need Desktop Manager? I find it a ridiculous piece of software because RIM could have just used USB Media Transfer Protocol or Mass Storage so computers can read the Playbook's storage without any drivers. It would also be possible to hook up the Playbook directly to phones and tablets that have USB Host or On-the-go if standard USB protocols were used.

this works blackberry playbook connect through wifi to computer - YouTube