Confused about the LotRO free to play/ VIP bonuses?

What does VIP get you? and how do you become a premium member?

Free-to-Play opens up more choices and options so you can play your way. When LOTRO Free-to-Play is available, you can download the game for free and start playing without a subscription or even a credit card.

Anyone can join the game for free as a Free player when LOTRO Free-to-Play is available. You will automatically be upgraded from Free player to Premium player status with your first purchase of Turbine Points in the LOTRO Store.

And for a monthly fee, LOTRO's VIP program offers the best value and the most options for players who like the convenience of having unlimited access to all of LOTRO's game content and features. If you are already a subscriber, just maintain your active subscription to be automatically upgraded to VIP!

To make things simple:

Free to play : Pay nothing ever
Premium: Pay once at any point
VIP: Pay a subscription each month or pay for a lifetime one off payment.

Here is a link to the LotRO chart for the benefits of each “Tier” of subscription

http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/vipchart.html