I hear ya Faith. I feel the same way about them and I've tried a few myself. Thanks for the reviews. One thing that I have discoverd though if you are intent to use just your fingers is to keep the nails uniformly short and consistent. I work in the trades so long fingernails won't cut it, but even if the nail is short I find parts of it, like the corner, might accidentally hit a string while im in picking motion. Makes everything sound sloppy. Keep them trim, filed and short and I don't think it would be a problem. I know there's not as much volume and you don't get the nice snap sound of the string you get with a pick you can resolve that a bit if you have an electric acoustic. Plug into an amp and the sound is a lot more crisp and those softer weakened notes become more alive.

Good Luck,

Moe