Am I reading it incorrectly? It says, "You'll be committing to prepaying for a full year of 'member-level' service."

That doesn't sound like, "You get a year of service."

Its assumed that thats what it means. I think a lot of people would be asking for a refund if we were wrong though.

Are you sure? Can somebody confirm this?

You pay $50. Email them asking for alpha access. They give you the account.

$100+ accounts are for developers & access to APIs.