I must be in the minority! I love the middle seats! Whilst we tend to be either sleeping (me) or watching movies/listening to iPods, we enjoy eating together and not really keen on the buddy seat. I can also be a bit of a wimp if there is bad turbulence and seeing my OH helps calm me ( no-one would know that I was worried btw)
I once got the chance of row 1 and took it. Good but went back to row 4 happily enough the next trip.