I don't get the hate, either.

I love iTunes. I don't think I've ever bought any music from the iTunes Store but I have purchased a few TV episodes that my DVR "forgot" to record. Watched them in 720p via my old, hot AppleTV and was extremely satisfied.

What I did do was rip about 800 CDs of mine into iTunes. I used to have three Sony CD jukebox mega disk changers all hooked up to an Escient FireBall. When the AppleTV (1st generation) came out I sold the FireBall (poor sucker) and fell in love with the iTunes/AppleTV interface.

I plan on getting a 2nd gen AppleTV and in the rooms with a display I will use that as the interface and in rooms with just music I will use an iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad with the Remote App and AirPlay. I love it.