Hi You got to use http://pommo.org/Main_Page Simple to use, easy to install and does everything from the opt-in form to keeping track of all your subscribers + it's totally free!
Well I have just started my newsletter, got about 15 signed-up already, going to wait until I get about 40 before I send out my first newsletter. But I have 5 email accounts which are mine set-up for testing, I have sent out several emails to the test group and it all works fine. I use my isp to send out the emails. There is an option to add fields, I used this to add a name field (just the first name), so later on when I start sending out my newsletter emails, they will have - To (name) at the start - just to make it more personal. You can add as many fields as you want for your newsletter form, to collect certain details, but it's best to keep simple or people won't sign-up, its a double opt-in newsletter as well, so people sign-up via your website and then must confirm this via an email sent to them, this eliminates the spam-bots I guess. It's a great piece of software, better than paid newsletter software!
Well I never used aweber. What pommo does is collect emails for your newsletter, you have to send the emails via your isp or webhost, it doesn't do any sending of your newsletter. It collects emails via forms which you can design and alter yourself, it keeps track of everything else. http://try.pommo.org/
Aweber is safer as the mails get sent from their server. If you use your own server you run the risk of being reported for spam and losing your account.
do i need an smtp address with aweber or is all dont on their server?? also has anyone ever bought opt-in lists