Software → Download Manager: Useful?

Are download managers useful?

Aside from one I was tricked into using once with Adobe Photoshop, I've never used them. Am I missing anything?

My internet browser of choice is Firefox. When I download something, I window opens asking me where I want to store it, which I like.

Not really.
And I don't have any installed.
I used to use them, but found them more useful back in the Windows 95/98 dial-up networking days. Most browsers back then did not have proper download managers that could simply pause or resume a broken download. The only thing I find they are good for nowadays is for downloading the same file from a multitude of sources if that one file can not be downloaded at full speed from a single connection.

I despise them... Akamai's, Adobe's, Microsoft's, etc., and I always hunt for the direct download as I usually find the direct download to be faster!

I wanted a Microsoft Office 2013 demo last week, and Microsoft tried to make me jump through hoops to get it. Instead a little googling produced - »www.askvg.com/direct-dow ··· e-trial/

Since you're using Firefox, you may want to check out the extension DownThemAll!:
»addons.mozilla.org/en-US ··· themall/
(It has a few useful features.)

+1 on DownThemAll.

IMO, I always thought that download managers were an attempt to provide a solution to a problem that never existed.

Absolutely.
Can't image being without.
They give you control & information otherwise unavailable with the browsers built-in "download manager".

If you don't need the control or other information they may provide, then ...

Also on the Mozilla end, FlashGot (in conjunction with a download manager, or perhaps even not).

Love it for Firefox but I wish they would make a extension for Chrome.

As a side note I should mention that my when I replied to your question, I was originally thinking more along the lines of Download Accelerators. Sort of the same thing I suppose as they have the ability to manage your downloads too.

I used to use a manager called Wackget, which was basically a really minimal gui for wget. I stopped using it because I could never find a version that worked with Windows 7, but now that I search for it again, it looks like someone picked up development of it:
»trog.qgl.org/2011/wackge ··· d-vista/

That's what they seem like to me.

I took a look at DownThemAll, and it claims to accelerate. But I don't see how it can accelerate to speeds faster than what my ISP allows.

And it says I can customize the dls to get only what I really want. But I can't think of when I ever wanted only part of a download.

The "About" section mentions a few other features, but none of them are things I ever felt a need to do.

Download managers/accelerators increase the download speed by establishing multiple connections with each one downloading a segment of the file: 4 segments means 4x the speed (some/many/most servers limit the speed per connection for downloads).

DownThemAll! can also download everything from a page, or just the things on the page you want.

Another feature I use is the auto-rename, since I always download to the same directories and some file versions always have the same name.

I agree. I used Downthemall back in the day. Was useful. Now, I swear by one called Flashget. Never download a file, especially a big one without it.

One file from a known fast server, maxes my whole connection. All 27.5 of it. Done in minutes.

They accelerate by downloading parts of the file in parallel. In the dial-up days this was a big deal in these days of fast broadband not so much.

I use downthemall and have Free Download Manager installed still but rarely use it, the main advantage they offer these days is the ability to pause and resume downloads.

Your question is to basic.
They are many reasons to have and use a download manager, BUT since you do not seem to know what they are you are not downloading enough to need one.

The main reasons to use one is you can save a lot of time by not having to wait for each file to finish down loading before you move on. That is you can buffer the links you want and just keep adding them to the list to be downloaded.
You can setup your accounts inside so it will do all the clicks and key storks need for the link you added, so you don;t have to do it each time.
It can make many connections on some site to download much faster for larger files.
It can restart the download if it stops for some reason.
Many more reasons.

So do you need one now, only you can answer that.

Only thing download managers are good for IMHO, for restarting downloads. I used them for work when we were uploading or uploading 500+ gig files.

At home - useless for me. Even for downloads that take 8+ hours (1.5 down for me) - never have a problem with downloads.