I am SO sick of iTunes I want to vomit.

Question

I love how the iPhone 3 can download video. I've downloaded and paid for video on iTunes for the first time and I downloaded 4 TV episodes through my iPhone. That's $8.00 on iTunes. I figured if it could be downloaded straight to the iPhone and I didn't have to worry about syncing it was worth it, and freaking cool to boot.
My WiFi connection was intermittent, as I had to leave before it finished downloading. When I got back, the video was gone from my downloads and not in my iTunes. I went to download it again and it asked me to pay again. I said no way. I looked on my computer at home and there were the videos in iTunes. Lovely. Just what I didn't want to do. I downloaded a couple more on a faster connection and they worked great; just how I would like it.
What I've found is that if you have iTunes open, it will download the videos you just paid for and remove them from your iPhone queue. Sucky.
Now, I am tasked with getting the videos from iTunes to my iPhone. Which drives me out of my iMind. I don't sync applications with iTunes because it adds sync time every time I plug it in, but more importantly (and annoyingly) it re-installs apps I remove on my phone. I have to remove the app from my phone and iTunes (or the iTunes sync list) to keep it off of both devices. It ***** major @$$.
So now, my conundrum is this: I want to sync my videos I paid for, but because I have "Sync Applications" unchecked, it now wants to UNINSTALL all 13 apps I have installed and all their data. I HATE iTUNES. Can't it just leave me and my apps alone? Why does it have to meddle?
Anyone have any advice to any of my gripes with iTunes?
Thanks,
Matt

Answer 1

but because I have "Sync Applications" unchecked, it now wants to UNINSTALL all 13 apps I have installed and all their data.
Tell it to Sync Selected Applications. Select the 13 you want installed. Seeing that the apps are already on the phone, it should leave the data alone.
Once you do this, you should not need to do it again. Newly acquired apps will automatically be checked in the Selected Apps list. (You might need to go uncheck things you've removed, but since you don't sync frequently anyhow, shouldn't be that much of a hassle--although I don't remember iTunes making me do this)
You might also go into iTunes, Preferences, Devices and check the "disable automatic syncing" box, before connecting the phone. This will help prevent iTunes from doing things you didn't want.