Usenetserver.com $20/year includes VPN

Was just posting up a good deal I thought. Yes takedowns are an issue but just like getting a good private tracker, getting a good indexer or two and you also have access to old content & requests. Since 2012 when the DMCA takedowns kicked into high gear, a lot of the better sites have been using obfuscation methods to prevent them. I regularly grab older content that that posted in the 8+ year range, for example I just got a few 22 days ago that were posted pretty far back (2011-07-17 07:34:04 (8 yrs ago) and 2011-04-02 21:09:06 (8 yrs ago)) so your claim about the long retention being bunk is incorrect. Content posted this far back is also typically not obfuscated so it's perfectly searchable on open engines like nzbking.com. I don't know what you mean about nzb grabbers costing money, the days of using those ancient programs are long gone and the best ones now are entirely free. Also with torrents you need to make sure you are running a VPN, that is not needed for usenet as it's all ssl encrypted anyway. The better indexers do in fact charge for unlimited access, but if you aren't doing automation, free accounts will absolutely get you by as each will give you at least 5 downloads per day. I do have two indexers I paid for, and they're lifetime until they change their minds (kind of a joke, kind of not, dognzb actually did this.)

You and I both have gigabit upload, yet you choose to use torrents and I choose to use usenet. For me it is a better experience, for you torrents are better, and I think that's up to each person to decide what they're doing and personal preference. The vast majority of my use is via automation, so takedowns are a non issue anyway. You obviously ran into issues of not being able to find what you were looking for, so you turned to torrents which served your needs better.


i dont use a vpn. never have. been seeding since 2000 something. but we are talking private trackers havent used a public torrent site in years.... also to be clear i wasn't bashing this, i just wasn't educated as to the benefits or detriments. . fwiw.
 
i dont use a vpn. never have. been seeding since 2000 something. but we are talking private trackers havent used a public torrent site in years.... also to be clear i wasn't bashing this, i just wasn't educated as to the benefits or detriments. . fwiw.
I wonder, what country are you in? Using torrents in the usa without a vpn is very risky, private tracker or not (unless your private tracker closed its doors years ago and it's just the old guard) copyright trolls can get in and start grabbing ips for lawsuits. This was always what I wondered about 'private' trackers, how do they get new people and not know it isn't someone looking to send lawsuits. If you are in the usa, then I suppose you've been quite lucky. Maybe it's all nonsense, hard to know nowadays. Anyway from my perspective, that was why I started shying away from torrents in the early 00s and moved over to usenet. I also spent a time where I only had cable internet, and the upload was unacceptable for keeping a good ratio. It's good to have discussions like this, hopefully others can learn from our perspectives.
 
Was just posting up a good deal I thought. Yes takedowns are an issue but just like getting a good private tracker, getting a good indexer or two and you also have access to old content & requests. Since 2012 when the DMCA takedowns kicked into high gear, a lot of the better sites have been using obfuscation methods to prevent them. I regularly grab older content that that posted in the 8+ year range, for example I just got a few 22 days ago that were posted pretty far back (2011-07-17 07:34:04 (8 yrs ago) and 2011-04-02 21:09:06 (8 yrs ago)) so your claim about the long retention being bunk is incorrect. Content posted this far back is also typically not obfuscated so it's perfectly searchable on open engines like nzbking.com. I don't know what you mean about nzb grabbers costing money, the days of using those ancient programs are long gone and the best ones now are entirely free. Also with torrents you need to make sure you are running a VPN, that is not needed for usenet as it's all ssl encrypted anyway. The better indexers do in fact charge for unlimited access, but if you aren't doing automation, free accounts will absolutely get you by as each will give you at least 5 downloads per day. I do have two indexers I paid for, and they're lifetime until they change their minds (kind of a joke, kind of not, dognzb actually did this.)

You and I both have gigabit upload, yet you choose to use torrents and I choose to use usenet. For me it is a better experience, for you torrents are better, and I think that's up to each person to decide what they're doing and personal preference. The vast majority of my use is via automation, so takedowns are a non issue anyway. You obviously ran into issues of not being able to find what you were looking for, so you turned to torrents which served your needs better.

It's a perfectly fine deal. Again, I still use block accounts. I was answering someone who is already into private trackers what makes it better than those, and I gave him an answer.

I am not incorrect about older content on Usenet. Incomplete files or corrupted older files are not that uncommon when getting into the deep retention, that doesn't mean you CAN'T find content from back then, only that a fraction of it is still on there, which is why I said you only get about half that before you see significant amounts. This was in relation to the comment that old torrents are not seeded, yet I can also get old content from private trackers without issue. The incomplete or corrupted files on Usenet is about on par with the unseeded torrents on private trackers, so it makes it a moot point, I stated it because it was said in a way that only pointed out the negative that might exist with torrents, without pointing out a different, but similar issue can also be run into on Usenet.

And as I said, many if not most of the better indexers cost money, as you said yourself, or limit free accounts, no such thing for torrents, and you also don't have to pay for access to download the torrents where Usenet requires a sub or block account.

I wonder, what country are you in? Using torrents in the usa without a vpn is very risky, private tracker or not (unless your private tracker closed its doors years ago and it's just the old guard) copyright trolls can get in and start grabbing ips for lawsuits. This was always what I wondered about 'private' trackers, how do they get new people and not know it isn't someone looking to send lawsuits. If you are in the usa, then I suppose you've been quite lucky. Maybe it's all nonsense, hard to know nowadays. Anyway from my perspective, that was why I started shying away from torrents in the early 00s and moved over to usenet. I also spent a time where I only had cable internet, and the upload was unacceptable for keeping a good ratio. It's good to have discussions like this, hopefully others can learn from our perspectives.

Any letters set out are pointless and can be ignored. You also don't need a VPN, but even if you do, they are the same cost as Usenet and you don't need to pay for an indexer. However all you really need is a SOCKS5 proxy, and torrent programs include the ability to connect direct to the VPN or SOCKS5 proxy of your choice. Private trackers are the same as indexers, why do you think they can get into private trackers but not private indexers? Torrent programs have protocol encryption, meaning the ISP wont know what the traffic is, and any good private tracker has encryption as a requirement to be connectable. They will also require DHT to be turned off along with peer exchange.

I still have and use both, however there is nothing "better" about Usenet outside of not needing to seed or have good upload. I find stuff on one that I don't find on the other, which is why I have both, it's just that Usenet is only a filler now and why I use block accounts.
 
Why use just one? Get on a good private tracker and use Usenet. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. They don't have to be used exclusively. I lean more toward Usenet since I have a very fast connection that I don't want to share to keep ratios up. I also like that as soon as a Linux distro is released, I can download it at full speed the moment it is. No worrying about seeders or the amount of leaches.
 
Why use just one? Get on a good private tracker and use Usenet. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. They don't have to be used exclusively. I lean more toward Usenet since I have a very fast connection that I don't want to share to keep ratios up. I also like that as soon as a Linux distro is released, I can download it at full speed the moment it is. No worrying about seeders or the amount of leaches.

Agreed on using both, like I do. But I end up looking for some really odd content from time to time and not always for myself. With both it's not often I can't get something or at least request.

As for speeds, I saturate my fiber connection on fresh uploads with most of the private trackers I use. I have many times had a given TV show be uploaded well before it aired and my torrent feed grabbed it, once I saw this, by the time I went into my living room and turned on the TV and went to Plex, it was already on the home screen ready to watch. I don't often see under 40MB/s. Private trackers, or good ones have requirements for up loaders, not just anyone can upload, so unlike public trackers, you don't end up with someone uploading a 20GB torrent with a 256kbps connection and you have to wait forever for the swarm to even get the full file for speeds to go up, you end up right off with someone who has at least a 10Gbps seed box.
 
I use to use Usenet back in 1998-2000 when NFOHUMP.com was up and listing the releases. At the end , only used for small freeware utilities to help computer maintenance once Steam came out and games were priced fair. But nowdays, every utility program you could download is loaded with Trojans or malware or worse, so why even bother grabbing them? These people have killed the scene by being greedy and wanting my personal info. I sure miss those old days when usenet was not very well known by many people. As I got older, I lost contact with the shakers and movers of the SCENE.
 
Not sure if I should pick this up. I've been using Radarr/Sonarr/SAB for about 2 years now with my only provider being newsgroup.ninja and two indexers, nzbcat and nzbgeek. Those have been working great for awhile now. I added giganews thinking I would be on different backbone therefore getting a lot more results but it didn't seem to change. Two things that failed to download still failed to download (missing articles) after adding giganews so maybe I just don't understand this like I thought I did.

Now I'm thinking I should just cancel giganews and look for better indexers. Thoughts?
 
I use to use Usenet back in 1998-2000 when NFOHUMP.com was up and listing the releases. At the end , only used for small freeware utilities to help computer maintenance once Steam came out and games were priced fair. But nowdays, every utility program you could download is loaded with Trojans or malware or worse, so why even bother grabbing them? These people have killed the scene by being greedy and wanting my personal info. I sure miss those old days when usenet was not very well known by many people. As I got older, I lost contact with the shakers and movers of the SCENE.
You gotta check the crc32 against srrdb for anything software related. I do it for video files as well to be honest. Only way to ensure you're getting a valid file. I use Teracopy for this.
 
Not sure if I should pick this up. I've been using Radarr/Sonarr/SAB for about 2 years now with my only provider being newsgroup.ninja and two indexers, nzbcat and nzbgeek. Those have been working great for awhile now. I added giganews thinking I would be on different backbone therefore getting a lot more results but it didn't seem to change. Two things that failed to download still failed to download (missing articles) after adding giganews so maybe I just don't understand this like I thought I did.

Now I'm thinking I should just cancel giganews and look for better indexers. Thoughts?
Cancel giganews, get a block account on someone who is actually on a different backbone (and also in another country.) Having lots of indexers is the best thing you can do. Those two are great for a primary source, but if you don't have a dozen or more in sonarr you're going to be have gaps.

is the VPN automatic and built in to the service?
Yes, you can find instructions on using it once you log in. I personally haven't used it yet. For the usenet product itself, it connects via ssl (make sure you enable it and use the right ports) so that portion is secure without it.
 
Cancel giganews, get a block account on someone who is actually on a different backbone (and also in another country.) Having lots of indexers is the best thing you can do. Those two are great for a primary source, but if you don't have a dozen or more in sonarr you're going to be have gaps.
Thanks for the tips. I'll cancel tonight it tonight and look for some more indexers and a different backbone provider.

I assume I would setup the block account as the secondary in SAB in the event the primary unlimited account can't find what it needs?
 
Thanks for the tips. I'll cancel tonight it tonight and look for some more indexers and a different backbone provider.

I assume I would setup the block account as the secondary in SAB in the event the primary unlimited account can't find what it needs?
Yeah that's the way to do it.
 
so OP usenet deal isn't a bad deal right? or should it be canceled?

Its a deal thats too good to be true. The best price for Usenet I've ever seen and its a lifetime pricing lock. I gave it a shot because its only $20 and its been great so far.
 
I bit. If the completion is good, that's less than 2 months of my normal Supernews cost.
 
does usenet do other stuff like message boards and actual news and stuff?
 
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I wonder, what country are you in? Using torrents in the usa without a vpn is very risky, private tracker or not (unless your private tracker closed its doors years ago and it's just the old guard) copyright trolls can get in and start grabbing ips for lawsuits. This was always what I wondered about 'private' trackers, how do they get new people and not know it isn't someone looking to send lawsuits. If you are in the usa, then I suppose you've been quite lucky. Maybe it's all nonsense, hard to know nowadays. Anyway from my perspective, that was why I started shying away from torrents in the early 00s and moved over to usenet. I also spent a time where I only had cable internet, and the upload was unacceptable for keeping a good ratio. It's good to have discussions like this, hopefully others can learn from our perspectives.
i live here in the usa. real private trackers get people via invite from peers. like i get 3-5 invites based on my upload, however i rarely give them out. most other older torrent users are the same. not sure about new gen stuff. ive been using the same site for 10 years and never had an issue. I sadly only still have cable internet but i get 400x200 so its pretty ok having lived through the years of 10x1 20x2 etc etc.
i agree. ive lerned alot about usenet beacuse of this thread, even though i knew what it was i never got involved. now i have a lifetime membership. . thx!

EDIT: probably i will use a vpn though, even my private sites recommend it. im just lazy and i really dont think they gonna come after me for downloading Encino man.
 
i live here in the usa. real private trackers get people via invite from peers. like i get 3-5 invites based on my upload, however i rarely give them out. most other older torrent users are the same. not sure about new gen stuff. ive been using the same site for 10 years and never had an issue. I sadly only still have cable internet but i get 400x200 so its pretty ok having lived through the years of 10x1 20x2 etc etc.
i agree. ive lerned alot about usenet beacuse of this thread, even though i knew what it was i never got involved. now i have a lifetime membership. . thx!

EDIT: probably i will use a vpn though, even my private sites recommend it. im just lazy and i really dont think they gonna come after me for downloading Encino man.
Just so you know, the usenet service is $20/year, and the discount is lifetime. You'll still have to pay $20 every year. Just wanted to be clear, I know a lot of indexers have lifetime pay once memberships, but this deal isn't that. Glad you learned a lot from this, I sure didn't expect this thread to live this long!
 
Its a deal thats too good to be true. The best price for Usenet I've ever seen and its a lifetime pricing lock. I gave it a shot because its only $20 and its been great so far.
Definitely had the going out of business soon vibe though.
 
does usenet do other stuff like message boards and actual news and stuff?

Ya, probably in the same way libraries have physical books still even though most people are there for internet usage, renting a dozen CD's and Movies, and using the online Overdrive. We all say the library is important for the physical books, but everyone knows whats up.
 
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I think I got the hang of this. Is this idea correct?

Usenet as an entity gets propagated across multiple backbone servers. So you post something to alt.something on your usenet provider. It then gets replicated to the other usenet servers so their customers can access your content. So now that message content exists on multiple physical locations controlled by independent operators. The indexers read these "message boards" and return results of search queries. For the most part, modern users have zero actual interaction with the message board aspect. The indexer tells your NZB client the newsgroup address, but on NZBgeek I don't see what newsgroup the search results are actually from, so I have no idea of the backend. The content gets split up dozens of ways for various reasons. If for some reason someone does not like the content that you posted, they can protest it. The Usenet providers respond by removing a couple chunks of that content so that's it's no longer 100% and thus unusable. But since the content was propagated across multiple seperate operators, they all react by removing different pieces of the content. So by subscribing to multiple usenet providers, there is a good chance you will be able to recover a missing piece of the content from Provider B when Provider A does not have that particular piece. But you have to be careful that your Provider A & B are not pulling from the same physical server, or else they will both be missing the same piece. So you have to look up the "backbone" providers and make sure you are purchasing access from resellers (or directly from the provider) that are different backbones. And so you have your main provider subscription that most of your content is retrieved from, and then you have your "limited" subscription provider that is used to (hopefully) fill in any absent content not available on your primary provider.

Is that about it?
 
I think I got the hang of this. Is this idea correct?

Usenet as an entity gets propagated across multiple backbone servers. So you post something to alt.something on your usenet provider. It then gets replicated to the other usenet servers so their customers can access your content. So now that message content exists on multiple physical locations controlled by independent operators. The indexers read these "message boards" and return results of search queries. For the most part, modern users have zero actual interaction with the message board aspect. The indexer tells your NZB client the newsgroup address, but on NZBgeek I don't see what newsgroup the search results are actually from, so I have no idea of the backend. The content gets split up dozens of ways for various reasons. If for some reason someone does not like the content that you posted, they can protest it. The Usenet providers respond by removing a couple chunks of that content so that's it's no longer 100% and thus unusable. But since the content was propagated across multiple seperate operators, they all react by removing different pieces of the content. So by subscribing to multiple usenet providers, there is a good chance you will be able to recover a missing piece of the content from Provider B when Provider A does not have that particular piece. But you have to be careful that your Provider A & B are not pulling from the same physical server, or else they will both be missing the same piece. So you have to look up the "backbone" providers and make sure you are purchasing access from resellers (or directly from the provider) that are different backbones. And so you have your main provider subscription that most of your content is retrieved from, and then you have your "limited" subscription provider that is used to (hopefully) fill in any absent content not available on your primary provider.

Is that about it?
Yes your understanding is pretty much correct. Any disagreement with your post would be nitpicking I believe. Some indexers still tell you the group it was posted to, in fact nzbgeek does tell you if you click on the particular search result, and then the Details tab at the top.
 
I just switched from the $10/month "Verizon special" i had with usenetserver ever since verizon stopped USENET access to this package. Should've looked into something like this ages ago. Don't hate me :( Better late than never.
 
The indexer tells your NZB client the newsgroup address, but on NZBgeek I don't see what newsgroup the search results are actually from, so I have no idea of the backend.
The backend comes from the provider, not the indexer. Otherwise, spot on.

Also, usenet releases tend to heavily use PAR recovery, so even if blocks are missing, you can often still recover it. I prefer MultiPar.
 
The backend comes from the provider, not the indexer. Otherwise, spot on.

Also, usenet releases tend to heavily use PAR recovery, so even if blocks are missing, you can often still recover it. I prefer MultiPar.
I use sabnzbd which automatically does the par2 downloading & repair when needed. I bet others such as nzbget do too. I find it really accelerates things when you don't hasve to manually do the checking and repairing yourself, check it out.
 
I use sabnzbd which automatically does the par2 downloading & repair when needed. I bet others such as nzbget do too. I find it really accelerates things when you don't hasve to manually do the checking and repairing yourself, check it out.
NZBGet does it, but it randomly has problems here and there, usually it doesn't hit that final out. I've only had to use it a few times manually, but it's good to know how it works regardless. I've gotta go through and setup a decent automated system at some point, probably go with sabnzbd, the seedbox I'm on has too many options. Bah, first world problems.
 
Usenet... a name I haven't heard in a long time.
I think I gave up on it circa 2005 when the spam content ratio neared almost 100% :/
I still have Forte Agent, but I suppose that's laughably obsolete now?
 
Usenet... a name I haven't heard in a long time.
I think I gave up on it circa 2005 when the spam content ratio neared almost 100% :/
I still have Forte Agent, but I suppose that's laughably obsolete now?
Yeah it's been a while. I started with newsbin, then moved on to alt.binz, now I'm on sabnzbd. The landscape has changed drastically, but it's still active.
 
Happy to see this is still going on.. giganews had a deal for $95 a year for their unlimited package sent to my email today.. after canceling them months ago.
 
Happy to see this is still going on.. giganews had a deal for $95 a year for their unlimited package sent to my email today.. after canceling them months ago.
So they try to get your back with the old deal usenetserver has had going for years that I just dropped for this promotion, nice lol
 
Can someone fill me in on what I'm doing wrong?

Bought the deal got my user name and password and downloaded there program.. logged in and all I have is a simple small blue window that says I'm connected.

Is there some other app I need to use this?
 
Can someone fill me in on what I'm doing wrong?

Bought the deal got my user name and password and downloaded there program.. logged in and all I have is a simple small blue window that says I'm connected.

Is there some other app I need to use this?
You need to use an indexer and/or search engine to get nzb files which contain the information on what files to download, and add that to your client (similar to adding a .torrent file to a torrent client.) You've got some homework to do, perhaps start with https://www.reddit.com/r/usenet/wiki/index
 
Can someone fill me in on what I'm doing wrong?

Bought the deal got my user name and password and downloaded there program.. logged in and all I have is a simple small blue window that says I'm connected.

Is there some other app I need to use this?

It can be a little confusing at first. Here's a simple breakdown of how it works and what you need.

Don't use their app. Use this instead. https://sabnzbd.org/

  1. Its a 2 part thing. First you need a subscription to a usenet provider. You already have this since you subscribed to Usenetserver. They are a provider to access Usenet servers that host files.
  2. The next thing you need is an indexer. These sites scan and index new and existing files on the Usenet servers. A good indexer will have a community driven feedback system on files and will organize them into categories depending on what kind of file/media. I use https://nzbgeek.info/. It's a small yearly subscription for that or a small 1 time lifetime cost. There are free indexers out there but they are spotty at best. I highly HIGHLY recommend using a paid indexer like nzbgeek.
  3. Once you sign up, you will get an API code. This API code is unique to your account. You add this to your SABNZBD so when you click on files you want to download, it will use your API key to authenticate and start the download. Files will download in SABNZBD.
Also make sure you have the correct amount of connections in SABNZBD for your usenet provider. For the one in this thread, its 60. The more you have, the faster the downloads. I see it a lot where people leave it at the default setting (10) and they complain that their usenet provider is slow. Meanwhile I'm downloading 75-90 megabytes a second (yes BYTES, not bits).
 
It can be a little confusing at first. Here's a simple breakdown of how it works and what you need.

Don't use their app. Use this instead. https://sabnzbd.org/

  1. Its a 2 part thing. First you need a subscription to a usenet provider. You already have this since you subscribed to Usenetserver. They are a provider to access Usenet servers that host files.
  2. The next thing you need is an indexer. These sites scan and index new and existing files on the Usenet servers. A good indexer will have a community driven feedback system on files and will organize them into categories depending on what kind of file/media. I use https://nzbgeek.info/. It's a small yearly subscription for that or a small 1 time lifetime cost. There are free indexers out there but they are spotty at best. I highly HIGHLY recommend using a paid indexer like nzbgeek.
  3. Once you sign up, you will get an API code. This API code is unique to your account. You add this to your SABNZBD so when you click on files you want to download, it will use your API key to authenticate and start the download. Files will download in SABNZBD.
Also make sure you have the correct amount of connections in SABNZBD for your usenet provider. For the one in this thread, its 60. The more you have, the faster the downloads. I see it a lot where people leave it at the default setting (10) and they complain that their usenet provider is slow. Meanwhile I'm downloading 75-90 megabytes a second (yes BYTES, not bits).

Thanks for the clear detailed answer!
 
It can be a little confusing at first. Here's a simple breakdown of how it works and what you need.

Don't use their app. Use this instead. https://sabnzbd.org/

  1. Its a 2 part thing. First you need a subscription to a usenet provider. You already have this since you subscribed to Usenetserver. They are a provider to access Usenet servers that host files.
  2. The next thing you need is an indexer. These sites scan and index new and existing files on the Usenet servers. A good indexer will have a community driven feedback system on files and will organize them into categories depending on what kind of file/media. I use https://nzbgeek.info/. It's a small yearly subscription for that or a small 1 time lifetime cost. There are free indexers out there but they are spotty at best. I highly HIGHLY recommend using a paid indexer like nzbgeek.
  3. Once you sign up, you will get an API code. This API code is unique to your account. You add this to your SABNZBD so when you click on files you want to download, it will use your API key to authenticate and start the download. Files will download in SABNZBD.
Also make sure you have the correct amount of connections in SABNZBD for your usenet provider. For the one in this thread, its 60. The more you have, the faster the downloads. I see it a lot where people leave it at the default setting (10) and they complain that their usenet provider is slow. Meanwhile I'm downloading 75-90 megabytes a second (yes BYTES, not bits).
All good advice here, to add on, do not rely on one indexer. I have nzbgeek too, and there are plenty of things I can't find with them. I have about a dozen (that are still working) in sonarr, look this up once you feel more confident and want to get some automation going. Some sites come and go, but you shouldn't need too many pay sites. Grab up free accounts even at premium ones, they still let you get like 5 downloads a day on average.
 
All good advice here, to add on, do not rely on one indexer. I have nzbgeek too, and there are plenty of things I can't find with them. I have about a dozen (that are still working) in sonarr, look this up once you feel more confident and want to get some automation going. Some sites come and go, but you shouldn't need too many pay sites. Grab up free accounts even at premium ones, they still let you get like 5 downloads a day on average.

The way I use to download off USENET was grab the filenames off a site that listed group releases. Load up Grabit and search the filename. It would list all the files available including the .par files. I would highlight the files and download them. Grabit would automatic unpack them,test them and convert to an .ISO file for later use.
 
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