There was a thread in the bard section talking about bard songs and there was a reply that had this in it:
The benefits are nice, but is it _really_ worth not having a real party member?
Of course there was more said and everyone has there own opinion, but being that not many people post in the bard section I thought I would bring it here to see what everyone elses thoughts were. In my experience playing as or with a bard in a party has made the party awesome reducing down time and keeping buffs and debuffs going non stop. Another benefit to a bard is they don't use mp so they don't have to rest to sing songs.