Dave, I second Deirdre's general comments, although I have no experience
specifically with Domain Direct.  A couple of other points:

o Commodity rates for domain registration are about $12-15.  
o It's highly desirable to pay quite a few years in advance.
o Registrars encourage transfers by giving you credit for time you 
  have remaining at your existing registrar.

In consequence, considering a move to a new registrar is always timely
(except within one month of expiration, when you need to stay put and
pay the man pronto, before doing anything else) -- and paying additional
years in advance is always a good idea at any reasonable annual rate.

What you want to scrulously avoid is _ever_ getting within even a couple
of months of expiration.  Here's what happens during the expiration
process:  "Domain Expiration" on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Network_Other/
...and likelihood of registrar misbehaviour (including mysteriously
delaying or losing your transfer request) increases dramatically as you
approach expiration.

> Going back over the check book records, it looks like we paid $70 in
> 1998 for 2 years, $35 in 2000 for one year, and $140 for five years in
> 2001.

Those are Network Solutions rates, which are notably high, and buy you
(historically) sub-par service.

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