Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but confused. Please help!?

Hi All - I'm tearing my hair out. I want to use Google Apps for sending e-mails to our user community. I know some people here use it so I have a few questions:

1) Do you use the "e-mail list" functionality. Or do you merely route your e-mail through Google within the daily limits? i.e. using the standard gmail functionality?

2) Is there any point in using the premium edition apart from the 2000 email limit? Its not enough for us anyway, so we'll have to break down into smaller chunks.

I was just on the phone with a Google "power user" and they said e-mail lists were not for mailing lists but for internal distribution. So I'm pretty confused. If anyone is willing to clarify, I'd be super appreciative.