I was anti-crop, and ended up rescuing a Doberman that already had cropped ears and getting a show Dane puppy from a breeder who required cropped ears. I was surprised by a couple things:
1) The ears are sooooo much more expressive then I would have thought. Granted, a Dane crop is much longer than a cc crop, but our doberman has a shorter crop and they are still very expressive, probably more so than the Dane.
2) The cropped ears really didn't seem to bother our puppy at all. By the time we got him (a couple days after the crop) he was no longer on paid meds, only antiobiotics, and was active and playing with his siblings. When the scabs started formally, his ears were a bit itchy, but applying bag balm or neosporan to the edges helped with that. He did hate having the tape pulled off his ears once we started posting, but I don't think people usually post cc ears.
3) If it was my choice, I wouldn't crop a puppy due to the expense/time needed to maintain (again, based on my experience with a Dane show crop), but wouldn't hesitate to get a puppy for a reputable breeder who required cropping. I love the look, but don't personally feel its necessary.