No you dont need to pay for pop3 support with hotmail. A while back they made pop3 available for everyone. Here is how you set it up:
POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example
yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes
Ive been using it for more than a year and it works flawlessly.