I haven't tried winding by hand, but I bought a small winder that was under $20. Only problem was that it could only handle 3 oz of yarn at a time, so I wound up buying a large winder. It can handle a full Red Heart super saver 7 oz skein and I love the winder. I hang them on the wall on a pegboard.
Good tutorial, thanks. I've done it before and personally don't like center pull balls since it gets very messy as the ball is used up, but it's convenient for a while at least.