For what it's worth, my current pipeline looks something like this.

I use ZoomBrowser with an external USB card reader only so far as to import pictures into directories named with the date. I then convert the RAW images to JPEG and exit ZoomBrowser.

Second, I rename the directory to something more useful (e.g., from "2004_04_02" to "2004_04_02 - Beautiful Sunrise"), such that it will still sort numerically, but will also give me a clue as to what's inside.

Third, I use ACDSee or sometimes the Windows XP built-in photo browsing stuff to look through pictures, and Photoshop to dork with them. I've recently upgraded to Photoshop CS, which includes its own visual browser that understands CRW files. Adobe's Camera Raw plug-in looks to be a much better RAW converter than Canon's, so I'll use that if I'm for some reason unhappy with Canon's default JPEG conversion.

Then, when I've nearly filled my 1GB card, I'll copy it directly to a burned CD with the same DCIM subdirectory and associated cruft. This means that ZoomBrowser is entirely happy pretending that these burned CDs are really just memory cards if/when I ever put them back into the machine.

There are plenty of other tools out there if I was willing to shoot JPEG, but if you're into RAW, then you need tools that understand it. Since I only minimally use ZoomBrowser, it works well-enough for me that I don't feel the need to get BreezeBrowser or some other commercial tool. Photoshop and ACDSee do all the heavy lifting I need.