Have to say that the premium membership is excellent for following major tournaments like Reggio and Hastings. I have the feeling that chessbase has made a very good marketing decision. I don’t see ICC continuing to generate renewals at ICC rates. I certainly won’t renew with ICC now that I have F12.
Interesting. I ordered Fritz 12 with Christmas money… discovered I might have a problem running it on my laptop… emailed both Shawn and ChessBase… settled on upgrading to Fritz 10, possibly… then bought and am waiting on a new laptop that could run F12. As well as resolving just what version of Fritz I am getting, now that I can take 12.
But I’m afraid of Playchess. (Afraid, that is, of getting to like it well enough that I’ll want to pay for it! 
) So I think I’ll not go there for awhile and continue on at FICS, personally. 
Go with F12 if you can do it. Playchess will cost you only the cost of a Fritz upgrade each year or so. That’s their hook and now that it includes a premium membership, there is little reason to play elsewhere in real time. If you are on playchess, my handle is MrChigorin. Let’s have a game. 
I should add that the new user interface with F12 is addictive. If you know the Aquarium interface and like it, you’ll like F12 as well.
On the topic of Fritz versions, the only one I have is a very old Fritz 7. I’ve been considering getting a newer version. Mostly, I just want to use it to analyze my games for me and point out how much of an idiot I am, when my opponents don’t do that first. I know version 12 is the latest and greatest, so it’s the most expensive right now, but I’ve heard it’s a significant improvement over earlier versions, as far as the interface, ease of use, etc. What do you all think of it?
IMO, it is a vast improvement although you will have to learn it if you’ve been using the older interface. If you’re using F7, you will be very happy with F12. Also consider Rybka Aquarium.
I’ve known two others who got 12 around Christmas time. The F12 basic interface is also very reminiscent of Office 2007 products (especially as compared to Office 2003.)
Mainly I bought it for UCI engine analysis in ChessBase, to update my choices from Fritz 6, Crafty 20, and Rybka 2.2n2. 
I believe I had created a Playchess account at one point… If I did, I almost certainly created it under LaughingVulcan.
There doesn’t seem at present to be an LaughingVulcan on playchess. Office is one of the design themes with F12. There are others. Let me know when you’re back on playchess.
So is Fritz 12 worth the extra money, compared to picking up Fritz 10 or 11, now that they’re cheaper because they aren’t the latest and greatest?
Absolutely, IMO.
Who is the highest rated player to pay for Fritz 12 ?
My understanding is that Kasparov and Magnus both use Fritz. I doubt that hey paid for it though.
Nah, most Grandmasters these days use Rybka as their primary engine.
Kasparov has been quoted as saying that he uses Fritz, but the reality is probably that he uses both. Both engines can be run with the Fritz GUI.
And probably more important, both can be set up in ChessBase. With a hot enough system both can be analyzing the same position in CB at the same time. It might well pay a GM to analyze with more than one engine - see what differences there are. I did a recent blog post (more about the limits of what the computer can tell you to play,) and as part of that used three older engines and built a table of their ratings of various candidate moves in a position. The blog post is here.
In good news, it turns out that I will be getting Fritz 12. Installation will come after my laptop arrives. 
A new laptop and F12—Life is Good.
Fritz is the only program that uses propriatory software. Why would you ever consider it?
That makes it impossible to use with any other data base or program. While many chess players endorse Chess base products it is not the secret to their success.
I have chessbase (F12 and Chessbase Light 2009) and Chess Assistant 10 as well as Rybka Aquarium. It is not that difficult to move between them. They all read pgn files.
Chessbase converts pgn files into ChessBase format, useless to any other program. That defeats the idea of Portable Game Notation. Can you open your Mega Database 2009 with any thing other than a chessbase product?
I guess those games are only available world wide to chessbase, eh? There are numerous databases that are available in pgn that can be read and/or converted by chessbase and other programs like Chess Assistant. I can’t imagine why most people would pay $175 for Mega Database 2010, unless it’s the photos of chess players that they want. The game analysis I’ve seen in Mega is not particularly unique, but that’s true of the annotated games in Chess Assistant as well. I don’t doubt that chessbase has done it’s best to create crossover problems, but they are not, IMO as bad or insurmountable, as you make it out to be. 
Computer software should be treated like books.
Chess books should be used as we use glasses: to assist
the sight, although some players make use of them as if
they thought they conferred sight”
(Jose Raul Capablanca)