I agree, its there so might as well use it, rather than wait for the approach controller to tell you to 'expect runway XXX' and then the tower controller to tell you wind etc.
Approach will always re-iterate the runway, even if it's on an ATIS, as it's easy for people to get it wrong. As for your comment about using ATIS wind rather than have a tower controller give it you bear this in mind. The wind on the ATIS is a 10 minute average and may be up to an hour old - what tower gives you is normally a 2 minute average over the 2 minutes before he gives it you - which one do YOU think is more accurate? Bearing how changeable this particular piece of weather data is I know which one I'd rather have
CM