I'm all over the collections thing too, dhbailey, but I'm still hoping for hierarchical file support, it's just too easy to work with for me to give up hoping for it yet.
I do have a cradle, but I don't use it to connect to the computer, I keep it by the bed for charging purposes. I see a couple of advantages to the cradle from that perspective.
1) When I'm falling asleep and I know I'm ready to recharge the Reader (as determined by my own anality on the matter, not the Reader's actual, present-moment need for re-charging), I just close the cover and drop it into the cradle, then wiggle it a bit 'til the light comes on (the wrist lanyard I have on my Reader makes that necessary), and my last waking thought is that I know it'll be charged in the morning.
2) The light on the cradle can be seen from across the room (even with room the lights on), so I can tell when it's done charging from a distance. Fortunately, the charging light doesn't keep me, or my wife, awake.
For transferring texts, I still use the USB cable, I can carry that around with me, so it's more convenient ... and, despite its relatively small footprint, we don't have room for the cradle on our computer desk anyway.