What password product or system should I use for a site with basic and premium memberships?

While HTaccess etc is good and simple, im not sure how it will handle basic and prem members.

I would maybe look into some form of PHP user management / Access system.

Maybe even learn some simple php to achieve your goal.

The skinny of this is simple, use .htaccess with encrypted passwords.

http://www.e2.u-net.com/htaccess/make.htm

That site will make htaccess passwords for you, several APIs available to do it off server or you can do it on server here is the most comprehensive guide:

http://perishablepress.com/press/2009/07/13/htacce

Cheers,

www.2Xera.com

I've just written a hub which answers this question, but briefly you could use the nanacast system which you can evaluate at http://www.tipcast.tv. I use it to deliver video tips for various niche markets and it works well.