i did some googling but the articles i read all were very one sided due to affiliate links

any advice about what the best way to manager subscribers would be?

I personally prefer Aweber since you're going to be able to contact that user directly about pretty much any product or service you're offering. The only issue is you're going to get less people who are willing to optin to your list, rather than just subscribing to a feed.

Bear in mind that you can use Feedburner for now (free) and once you have built up some subscribers you can export the list and re-import then into Aweber / MailChimp or whatever you decide to use.

I use free wordpress plugin myself. Try "Wysija" - its good for managing subscribers, sending out newsletters, creating lists and it lets you create "Subscribe Now" button for frontend ... Just google "Wysija wordpress", you will be fine with this plugin..

Mail chimp has a free package and that is why i prefer it a lot.