Personally I don't think so. Master Pages are very similar to the system I had devised in ASP.NET 1.1, but with the added benefit of integrating nicely into VisualStudio and ASP.NET. I find them very easy to understand and straight-forward. However it is nice to have a good page that explains them.

A professional web site will have a standardized look across all pages. For example, one popular layout type places a navigation menu on the left side of the page, a copyright on the bottom, and content in the middle. It can be difficult to maintain a standard look if you must always put the common pieces in place with every web form you build. In ASP.NET 2.0, master pages will make the job easier.

[ Master Pages In ASP.NET 2.0 ]

Master pages are seriously flexible too. The only bug I've found so far is that not all HREF or SRC attributes of controls that are "runat=server" will allow you to use ~ to home them, so far I've found that the <link> tag requires you to leave off the ~/ to do the same thing. Rather odd, but it is what it is.