If you use Nikon, and can afford it, then NX appears to be the weapon of choice. If you're a bit strapped for cash, then Phase One's excellent Capture One is a good choice. If you buy a Sandisk Extreme III 2GB SD card from here:
http://www.picstop.co.uk/Secure-Digi...%29-Card---2GB
for the princely sum of £17.40 + £1.50 P&P, then it will come with a slip printed with a licence activation for Capture One LE (C1). This was certainly true as of last week when I bought a couple. The licence works fine, I installed a copy on my 2nd PC.
For anyone who buys a card and finds they are no longer shipping with a licence for C1, you can buy a copy of C1 here:
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/item/650-200Z/
It's gone up recently, they had it for £33 the other week when I looked.
I've tried Bibble, Raw Shooter Essentials, Adobe Capture Raw and SilkyPix (superb output for Pentax users, but uuuggggggh, impossible user interface), as well as C1. I find C1 to be an excellent package. Not being a Nikon user, I've never tried NX, but I've yet to find anyone who's tried it and not raved about it. C1 for <£20 and you get a free 2GB SD card with it, seems a much better value package to me though.
Oh, and persevere with using raw, it may seem like a lot of faff to begin with, but once you've got the hang of it, you'll never look back. I used to be a die hard jpeg shooter, now I never consider using anything other than raw.
Duncan