waiting a month isn't so bad (I nearly dropped them when I first heard of it)
but now that the $ is flowing it really doesn't mater

as for free member file size limit
I cranked mine up to the max
if your posting in forums where your rep maters (and want a lot of people bumping your thread with thanks) then crank it up
if you have your own website then I think probably make it so about 1/3 of your files can be downloaded for free
and try to make sure your down-loaders find some of them first