Do I need a bread maker?
You absolutely don't need a bread maker for good bread.  They have been making bread for at least 22,000 years and I promise, in the vast majority of those, having a bread maker would have gotten you stoned as a witch (if you had electricty to run it).  However, a good bread maker will vastly cut down on the time you have to spend making bread.  Basically, bread by hand requires a few hours and lot of physical kneading to develop the gluten that gives bread it's structure and in a bread machine, you dump the ingredients in, turn it on and walk away, then come back and enjoy some fresh bread.