I have Fritz 13 but not any of the other extras. My version (online download) included a one year playchess.com membership but I have never used it since I spend most of my time here on chess.com.
At my pathetic level, I don't spend a lot of time digging through openings or endgames, so the Powerbook and Endgame add-ons would be a waste of time and money for me. In addition, buying Houdini 3 is overkill since the Fritz 13 engine is plenty good and far better than anyone needs outside of a few GMs unless you're playing computer chess against another computer.
You can find many databases of openings online for free or build your own up from TWIC games from international tournaments. There are also online tablebases of endgames available for free if you need them, which I seldom do. It all depends on how advanced you are, and if you're asking these questions, I would say you're better off saving your money on the extras. By the time you reach 2200, you'll want a newer program anyway.
The Let's Check feature does require the annual fee if you use it and should come with the program for the first year - there may be various versions of the program however, so I'm not sure about that.
I use it primarily for doing complete analysis of games I've played and lost after going back over the game PGN and trying to find where I made weak moves. I take notes while doing that and then compare to the Fritz analysis. I also like to use Fritz for playing through GM games in books because I can follow extended variations and quickly return to the point of departure with a single click.
I'm also impressed that they continue updating the program - over 20 updates in just a few months so far. Most are not visible, but the engine does increase in strength from time to time according to the internal strength monitor.
I recently got the urge to start playing chess again. I downloaded a few "free" chess games for Windows 8 that are pretty good, but they didn't come with any tutorials or tactics training. I was always a fan of the Chessmaster series. I actually owned Chessmaster for Playstation and Chessmaster 6000, but that was years ago. After searching online, I saw that the most recent version is actually quite expensive, so I opted for an older version, Chessmaster 9000, which actually has a great amount of tutorials and training information.
After further research, I learned that Fritz 13 seems to be the program of choice for a lot of players. I ordered Fritz from Amazon for a reasonable price, but I have a few questions about it. I hope maybe some of you guys who use the program can shed some light on it for me.
1. Do you need a "playchess.com" membership to use the "Let's Check" feature in Fritz? Does "chess.com" have a server for Fritz that works with the "Let's Check" feature?
2. Do any of you use "Fritz Powerbook 2012" or "Endgame Turbo"? Are they worth it? Do you consider either of them to be a necesitty for Fritz?
3. Do any of you own Houdini 3? Houdini 3 from Chessbase uses the Fritz interface. Does that mean that Houdini will work with the tablebases like "Powerbook" & "Endgame Turbo"?