If I don't download the iOS 4.2 iTunes update, will it do anything to my iPhone?

Every time I go on my iTunes to download more songs to my iPod, it asks me if I want to update the software to the iOS 4.2 software, and every time, I say no, because I don't like the look of the songs with the update (I've seen it on friends' iPods). However, I just got an iPhone 5 and I want to download my music onto it. If I don't update to the iOS 4.2 software, it's not going to do anything to my phone, right?

What's even the point of updating?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm not the tech savvy-est and I just want to keep my iPhone in good condition because it was, obviously, expensive.

Well if you are going to buy an iphone 5 it will come with the ios 6.0 and you can't downgrade to 4.2 or 5.0.
there are some really good things in ios 6 so you may like to watch a preview of it
I like ios 6.0 much better but the problem is that you can't jailbreak it for the time being.

No matter what your phone will be fine.updating is just a way to get new features and stuff.however, if you decide to NEVER update, there may certain applications that you can't download (assuming you don't upgrade for a long time)
but either way, your phone will never be affected if you never upgrade.