The double opt-in process works well. You need a separate email address for each newsletter subscription. It would be better if the generated subject line also included a newsletter name. That way it could just be one email address such as "subscriptions@domain.com".
It the free version of the newsletter can only handle smaller distribution lists. Still, even with the free version you have COMPLETE control over the content sent - without any advertising to pay for the "free" service. However, the price for the paid version is much lower than comparable services such as Constant Contact.
It would be nice if the sidebar widget was a bit cleaner, but I've been able to make it work fairly well.