I honestly don't know how anyone who regularly listens to the podcasts can justify not signing up for a basic subscription. For the price of a couple of Starbucks coffees you get a month to download all the PDF's you want, while doing your bit to ensure the future of JPod. Japanese teachers don't just grow on trees (except maybe Sakura
); it's obvious a lot goes into these lessons, and it amazes me that the crew manages to put them together in a day.
I agree that the premium subscription is quite badly marketed. Grammar references and such should be part of a standard account; when it comes to this, you're competing with a massive array of free websites, software, textbooks, and so on. It's the media content that's the real selling point - no one else offers anything quite like it. Things like bonus tracks, culture classes, and video should be premium. When you consider the popularity of iLove, I'm surprised it wasn't further exploited.
I think that Miki's package in the store is a great idea (although I'm yet to buy it because I'm 'saving it' for when I'm a little better), and I would definitely be interested in similar packages at different levels/about different topics (I think the various stages of a visit to Japan would be an obvious choice).
It's thanks to JPod that I got into learning a language, and I wish you every success. It's poor that there are people who listen to the show, leech the bandwidth, and give nothing in return.