Well, it could be that I am behind the times as well - I bought my hosting from dreamhost (service has proven satisfactory for my needs) and used their free domain registrations. Seems to have worked out. But even if I'm out of date on that, I do stand by my comment about the risks of free - some things come and go, but other things stay the same ;)

(None of this is a comment on the pawnmail service itself, which I'm sure is fine - just whether it, or any equivalent service, represents good value, all things considered, at that price point.)