HuskyPup - 12:42 pm on Mar 30, 2012 (gmt 0)

I consider the meta description as extremely important especially when used in conjunction with an identical/very similar on-page description. As netmeg wrote:

but you still want to stand out from the other nine results on the page

Honestly, if I showed you my pages v competition in the results you would realise why my hand-built pages rank so well and why I have also considered the huge task, for me, of converting my Coppermine galleries into hand-built ones.

Ignore unique descriptions at your peril.