BlackBerry Desktop Manager and the consumer market
I know this issue must have been discussed here before, but not recently to my knowledge, and this has been bugging me, so I'm going to bring it up.
I'm curious, how many people here are really satisfied with BB Desktop Manager? I'll be honest, I'm aware that there are issues that probably deserve a higher priority at the moment, but seriously, desktop manager is a horrendously bad interface. When was this thing written? Can't choose individual music files for transfer? Really? Stability issues, failed backups, failing to recognize my PlayBook unless I reboot it after connecting it. All wrapped up in a spartan and limited interface that permits very little control over the process. As a Windows user, I've always told everyone that iTunes is the worst piece of software I'd ever installed on my PC, but that changed the first time I ran BBDM. I can honestly say, that I would have been pissed about the lack of functionality of this thing in 1995, let alone 2011.
I wonder what sort of impact that BBDM has on RIM in the general consumer market. I've been using PC's and all manner of electronic devices since the late '80s, and have always considered myself somewhat savvy in use of various software, yet I'm regularly frustrated by BBDM. Having always stored multiple copies of my music on my computers (I like to maintain lossless formats in addition to compressed copies), I finally had to break down and strip all the music from my laptop, transferring only what I wanted on my phone to it, and syncing with BBDM from there, in order to avoid having extra copies of my music taking up space on my phone, in unsupported formats at that. I have a friend who has completely given up trying to transfer music to his Torch from his mac, and is on the market for an iPod to compliment his phone.
In my opinion, it would behoove RIM to radically update both the interface and functionality of BBDM, seeing as they're competing, at least in the eyes of the average consumer, against iTunes; an application that, while annoying in its own right, at least leaves one with the impression it was written in this century. What do you all think? Do you find BBDM a satisfactory experience?