i have a website directory and when someone adds their site they put include their email address and its saved into the mysql database. the directory script doesn't have a bulk email function in it to email all the members.

so what would be the best way to bulk email all the members. preferable a free option. i know alot about websit, but this is not my field

really appreciate it
thanks

Although PHP has a very easy function to send emails, the mail() function, it is not always the best. Infact it is pretty unreliable, it won't always send the email to the right amount of people, and if your hosting restricts the amount of outgoing emails because of spam, it just wont let you send bulk emails.

The best thing to do is work with sockets, opening one and keeping it open until all the emails are sent. Check out this forum post.

You could use mail() function, but you would have to set intervals at every, say, 30 emails. So sockets is your best bet for mass emails.