Sync applications!
I sync music/photos with Sailing Media Sync... it's exactly the functionality I wanted from my mac with my Hero, that I lost when I dropped my iPhone (with it's auto-sync via iTunes)... basically being able to "intelligently" sync new photos and modified playlists without resyncing the whole library every time. It's paid a free app for dumb syncing, paid for the intelligent syncing.
As for contacts etc, I'm a google ho so I do it over air - but I think there is an application from markspace called Missing Sync... basically does everything for you, backs up your entire phone, and mac friendly... only reason I didn't go with them was the lack of free updates (you have to pay for new versions).
http://www.markspace.com/products/android/missing-sync-android.html
They both work with multiple android phones though.
Auto-Sync/Backup applications for Android are going to have to become alot better advertised and more stable in the future for android to become a proper all-purpose device for "normal" people - maybe the networks can strike deals, or google could purchase one of them and give it out for free... but I think tech-dumb punters prefer the itunes style route than sifting through the web for applications, or drag/dropping media manually.