A "capable machine" doesn't take 3 days to sync. Mine takes just over an hour.

I'm guessing using the import isn't going to be significantly faster than syncing. If you really want to try it, please join #monero on freenode and people there can work with you on it much more quickly than this back and forth via forum posts. https://webchat.freenode.net/

You can also use simplewallet with a remote node which should be much faster than syncing a daemon from scratch. Someone else would have to provide some names/addresses for remote-capable nodes.

Since luigi1111 made this node possible for another month, I take the liberty of offering his node .
I think it works like this:

Windows:
Linux:

Thanks GingerAle, learning every day. Opened port 18081 on the node as well, please give it a try parker928.

Windows:
Linux:

Type in the command line with neither simplewallet or bitmonerod running. That command will open simplewallet and tell it to use a remote daemon, so you don't need to run bitmonerod on your comp at all. (This does degrade your privacy a bit.)

Your coins are safe using a remote node. Take it for what it's worth from a random internet person.

In general, external nodes are frowned upon....by The Protocol. We don't want to create a culture where people connect to remote nodes for convenience. This leads to centralization, much like some bitcoiners use electrum without even realizing they're not running bitcoin. Running a node isn't that much of a bitch right now. It just requires patience. And honestly, whats the rush to get access to your coinz? Sync the blockchain. Be your own bank.

When you say "can't get it to work", did you open up 18081 in the firewall?

Additionally, if you continue down this route, there are other flags that are useful when opening your port. For instance, if someone connects via simplewallet to your node, they can initiate mining unless you have it disabled... i dunno what the flag is off the top of my head. --limited-rpc or something.

Ultimately the "slow initial use experience" is something that plagues ALL cryptocurrencies (unless you use second tier "fixes"). I'm hoping to put together a cogent "ideas" post in the getmonero forum that will hopefully attract a developer for the whole headers first, reverse blockchain dload, then reverse wallet refresh approach for enhancing the "first impressions" experience ...

Could someone explain me what this means???
I upgraded to 0.9.2 on Linux 64bit and get the following WARNING/ERROR on the daemon.

look at top 20 marketcap, imagine for a second you wanna move partially away from BTC and search another STORE OF VALUE type Blockchain, then go through the options ,..., no killer app needed

As posted earlier today..........   Bug.  Ignore.  Fix is immanent.