UseNet

What is a UseNet ?

The internet before the internet existed. Usenet was conceived in 1979 and publicly established in 1980. It was created more than decade before the World Wide Web and makes it the oldest computer network communication network. Usenet is distributed among Universities, Businesses and Internet Service Providers who operate NNTP (Usenet) servers that exchange and mirror messages with each other posted by users in so-called news feeds. Each message posted to a usenet system has header metadata and a message body (that contains content). Binary posts often consist of files that have been split and encoded into tens or hundreds of messages. Headers contain information like: a universal message ID, group, subject line, date/time data. It's the email equivalent of subscribing to a mailing list, where all messages are available to all that have access to the list.

Usenet Big Nine The major set of worldwide newsgroups is contained within nine hierarchies, eight of which are operated under consensual guidelines that govern their administration and naming. Social structure of Usenet is one very similar to 4chan. The current Big Nine are:

  • comp.* – computer-related discussions (comp.software, comp.sys.amiga)
  • humanities.* – fine arts, literature, and philosophy (humanities.classics, humanities.design.misc)
  • misc.* – miscellaneous topics (misc.education, misc.forsale, misc.kids)
  • news.* – discussions and announcements about news (meaning Usenet, not current events) (news.groups, news.admin)
  • rec.* – recreation and entertainment (rec.music, rec.arts.movies)
  • sci.* – science related discussions (sci.psychology, sci.research)
  • soc.* – social discussions (soc.college.org, soc.culture.african)
  • talk.* – talk about various controversial topics (talk.religion, talk.politics, talk.origins)
  • alt.* - The prefix "alt" refers to the fact that it is a "hierarchy that is 'alternative' to the 'mainstream'. Unlike most of the other hierarchies, there is no centralized governing body and anyone who is capable of creating a newsgroup can do so. You could see it as early stage Reddit where most of the content is created by it's users.

Why to use a UseNet ?

In present time, most people utilize Usenet as one file sharing platform or as a torrent alternative. As you might know, to download something with torrents, you need an application called a "Bittorrent client" and a place to find the torrent files which points to the files you want to download. UseNet downloading is pretty much identical. You need a program to download files and a place to get the files that point to what you want to download. The difference here is that you need a program made for Usenet, and not bittorrent, and you need files called nzb files rather than torrent's.

The process of downloading files is slightly different. When you’re using bittorrent, you are connecting to many other bittorrent users and downloading the files you want from them. That's why it's called peer-to-peer. At the same time you also share the pieces of the files with others, which means you both download and upload the files. Someone also needs to have the complete original file and be sharing it in order for you to be able to get it.

Meanwhile Usenet stores your files in multiple servers which makes Usenet superior to torrents in terms of speed. The good servers will usually be as fast as your network can be, so downloads are very quick. Since you don't have to upload files while downloading, you will be saving your network speed. Which also means that you’re not dependant on other people with poor internet connections to share the files either. Most good Usenet providers can give full speed almost anywhere on Earth.

The biggest drawback of Usenet when compared to bittorrent is the cost. There are some free options, and some Internet Providers offer usenet plans, yet these are usually very limited in speed and the amount of files they have available. The prices vary a lot depending on how long you want the servers to keep files, how fast you’d like to download, how secure the download is, and how much you’d like to download each month.

gears Most Usenet servers can't keep files forever, since they have a limited amount of space to spare with so many files are being added each day. Which means, of course, that they delete the old files. That’s where file retention period comes in play. This has become less of a problem over the past few years though, as Usenet servers now usually keep files for several years. It might sound bad that the servers delete the files, but all that is needed to get the file back is for someone to upload it to the server again and it will stay for as long as the server keeps it. This compares favorably to torrents because many old torrents get forgotten and no longer supported by people, so you can't download them at all.

One of the worst problems with bittorrent is the lack of security. Since everyone is downloading from everyone, only the most advanced and careful of users protect themselves against people who are out to get them or to punish them. You can use some systems on bittorrent to protect yourself, but these are usually either expensive or they slow down your download speed a lot.

Most Usenet servers offer reliable security. Since you are downloading from a specific server rather than from everyone, you also avoid sharing your IP address in P2P network with other people which is a big bonus. On the other hand, a Usenet server is only as secure as the company that owns it, and that is something you should keep in mind. The main differences between services are cost, physical server location, bandwidth, days of file retention, and takedown policies.

Cons and Pros of Usenet vs Torrent

Biggest advantages of UseNet are:

  • Speed of downloading,
  • Privacy - if you live in a place where torrent usage is blocked or legally prosecuted,
  • Security,
  • Easinies to file access comparing with closed community private trackers (torrents).

What you need to get started

Usenet Providers and Backbones
  1. Usenet provider. In order to get access to files on usenet, you must use a provider to download those files. Providers are servers that store content on usenet and allow you to download said content. When a file gets uploaded to a particular provider, other providers will download that file from the server it was uploaded to. Theoretically, all providers should have the same content because of this, however in practice there are differences.
  2. Downloader. The 2 most popular options are Sabnzbd and Nzbget. Sabnzbd is better suited for newcomers. Choose Nzbget if you are an advanced user and would like to choose from plenty of customisation options.
  3. Indexer. Now to get files from your usenet provider you need files that have the .nzb extension so that Sabnzbd/Nzbget can download them. Think of them as torrent files. Mostly used indexer is Nzbgeek. They give you first 2 weeks for free and you don't need to give payment details for the trial.
  4. (Optional, but suggested) A tv PVR and/or a movie PVR. Simply put, these are media search and management programs which can help you to automatize all downloading process. For TV choose Sonarr and for Movies Radarr.
How to install and use any of the mentioned programs, you can find guides at the bottom of the page.

Suggested Usenet Providers

In total, there are around 13 Usenet Backbone providers and more than 50 different Resellers. Out of these, we chose to review a couple those which currently stand out due to the longest retention periods, the highest number of connections, competitve prices as well as employ the best practices in the industry.

newsgroupdirect landingpage

Newsgroupdirect

Newsgroupdirect has a biggest Usenet backbone provider - "Omicron" and offers best services in the industry:

  • 3,849+ days of binary retention
  • 50 Connections
  • Unlimited Bandwidth
  • 7.95$ Monthly / 75$ Yearly
  • Block Price ~(50GB/9$ - 500GB/35$)*
  • 15 Day Money Back Guarantee
  • Ghost Path VPN Acesss +
  • Servers Located: US, NL, DE
  • Free Trials for US customers
Visit Newsgroupdirect

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