Photographic industry

It's a while that I'm thinking about becoming a member of the AOP, but never managed to take a decision, it's quite a lot of money for the membership and I don't get how valuable the return would be....
I mean, you get some discounts in few shops and you get your name in their huge book to get lost in the middle of another thousand(s) of photographers...
mind, I don't have anything against the aop (actually I got my first job in london trough their jobshop section on the website) but is the membership worth the 315+ vat per year?
I mean do you get any job coming in from their website/publications to covers at least the cost?

i'm a member of the AOP (association of photographers) they helped draught the copyright designs and patent act 1998. they are very active in promoting proper licensing of images and IP (intellectial property).
this isn't a bad thing. if you are dealing with large businesses they will have proper paperwork for their contracts, just because you are a sole trader shouldn't preclude you from doing likewise.
put another way: I only got ripped off once. :-)