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What exactly is the appeal of Usenet when almost everything is available through torrents for free? I also never really understood trusting giving out your payment information.
Do people use Usenet as forums besides the ability to share files?
The main feature is that you’ll never have problem with too few or no seeders again, and everything will be fast always, and no one will ask or expect you to seed. Some have retention period on the content for like a decade.
But if the uploader stops hosting the file everyone loses the ability to download?
No, if the server you use stops hosting the file, then you can’t download it. Other people might still be able to, if their server still has the file. Most servers seem to do at least 3000 days retention, and others I’ve seen do 5000 days, so anything recent is probably gonna be there.
Its the same with torrents though, with the exception that hardly any torrent still has seeders after 5000 days. Usenet is more reliable in that regard, because you dont have to worry that older files won’t have enough seeders for you to grab the whole thing.
It’s also why most people suggest multiple server providers on different backbones that solves that issue most of the time.
Idk about 5000 days since ive never downloded such an old file but ive never come across a torrent that no longer had seeders unless it was a very obscure torrent with only a seeder or two to begin with. Seems like most torrents are on a couple seedboxes
I used to come across it all the time when downloading anime years ago. But now I don’t worry about that because I can download entire seasons of any anime in a minute or two without doing any searching myself. I just give Sonarr a name and start watching.
You ever not find something on usenet but found it on some tracker though?
No. I stopped using torrents a couple days after I started using Usenet, and nowadays I download anything new that I’m interested in as soon as somebody uploads it, which is usually an hour or two after it airs/releases. Anything upcoming I see that interests me I pop into the relevant *arr app, and then I get notified when it’s downloaded later. I’m sure there are people who have experienced the situation in your example, but since I only search for new and upcoming media, I’m not a good person to ask. I don’t peruse anything really obscure either, mostly mainstream fantasy and sci-fi. Things like Star Wars, Wheel of Time, The Expanse, and stuff like that. I know, I’m boring, but I can’t help what makes me happy.
Depends on the tracker.
I prefer it since I can max out my connection so it is much faster. I can download a 10GB movie in a matter of minutes. Also much easier to integrate with sonarr and radarr imo. And you don’t have the hassle of having to need a good download/upload ratio.
I didn’t realize Usenet was so fast compared to a torrent with many seeders. What makes Usenet so much faster?
It’s a direct download, with no speed throttling, and no searching for peers. Depending on how busy the server is and if you configure your download client right, you can max out your internet connection. It’s basically like downloading a finished torrent from a seedbox.
I would bet that the people who are saying that it’s faster are probably not downloading from private trackers to a seedbox. I have heavily used private trackers and Usenet. Using both methods, the limitation is the speed of the hard drive on my seedbox. I could upgrade to a solid state drive but I prioritize storage space over speed. I can already grab pretty much every thing I want in a matter of seconds.
As for retention, torrenting beats out hands down. 5000 days is a big retention for usenet. I’m on several trackers with hundreds of torrents that have active seeders that were uploaded over 10 years ago… If you’re using public trackers, then Usenet wins.
In my opinion the benefit to Usenet is not having to seed. I have a killer ratio on every private tracker I use. But sometimes I want to download something and I want to delete it right after. The real GOAT is to use them simultaneously. Pay for a couple of cheap Usenet providers (on different backbones) and get an affordable seedbox and put both torrent trackers and Usenet providers in Sonarr and Radar and you’re gonna have a good time.
If you don’t want to pay for a seedbox, Usenet is better since torrenting is slower through a VPN. You don’t need a VPN on Usenet because, the servers you download from are the same that you gave your credit card info from.
usenet is almost always faster, there’s never an issue with torrent lacking seeds and it’s theoretically safer as you do not upload any content when downloading which if you do download a lot using torrents will put you in a certain legal grey area about distributing files.
but aside from all of that the integration with the arr stack and the automation makes it just so much more god damned convenient.
Provider: Eweka Indexer: Geek
Same here. Would recommend both!
I’m probably about average when it comes to tech stuff. I always feel dumb when I start looking into getting started with usenet, then get intimidated and quit researching. My torrent + vpn has failed me a couple of times in the past three years. So I really just need to make the leap. Just finding this community and reading through some of the posts has given me an initiative boost.
This comment is me, last year. Its really not that hard don’t let it intimidate you! All you really need is 3 things:
- Download Client. Usenet has file size limits, so files are broken into zip archives. A download client such as SABnzbd will automatically unpack for you.
- Usenet provider. Such as Eweka (Based in Europe) or Newshosting. This will cost about 5-10 bucks a month.
- Usenet indexer. Indexer is used for searching usenet. Think pirate bay. I personally use https://nzbgeek.info. NZB geek costs 1 dollar a month or 80 for a lifetime membership.
Yeah usenet costs money, but god damn its such a premium experience. Every single download is going to cap out your connection, never wait for seeds again.
Do you use a vpn with usenet? Is it even necessary as you aren’t hosting like with torrents?
Have you found it easier to find less popular titles/things that there just doesn’t seem to be seeded torrents for?
I recently added Ombi to my setup, allowing my users to request media; now I’m getting more and more requests for media I just haven’t been able to find.
Do you use a vpn with usenet? Is it even necessary as you aren’t hosting like with torrents?
I don’t use a vpn because it would really slow down the speed and everything is downloading via https anyway so its encrypted. Your ISP will see you hitting usenet servers, but thats all. Milage may vary with how tolerate your ISP is towards this.
Have you found it easier to find less popular titles/things that there just doesn’t seem to be seeded torrents for?
Absolutely. The insane thing about usenet is retention. If it was uploaded 10 years ago to usenet, its still there. Available at max speed. No more dead torrents. I was in the same boat with users requesting stuff I couldn’t find, with usenet its way way better.
Thanks for the info. Just finished setting it all up; trigged a mass search for everything that was missing and now I’ve got a good 200+gb to download :D
I’m pretty damn impressed with the speed. Pushing 50 almost 60mb/s where as torrents usually top out around 10-15 if I’m lucky, usually closer to 1 or 2.
This is great. Thank you very much! I found a couple of “how to” elsewhere but they are so long and go into details I don’t need right now.
Is it just me or is usenet a bit expensive? One would need to pay for both an indexer and a provider. Regular public trackers have majority of the content for, well, free. Is obscure stuff on Usenet easier to find?
i wouldnt waste my time with torrents now. it is one of those things hard to explain but once you make the jump for yourself you will just know and wish you did it long ago. if you are all in for under a $100 per year, i dont consider that expensive at all.
Agree! I turned on the arr/nzbget/nzbhydra/Emby docker stack several years ago and it just works. I add content from my phone and it’s downloaded and organized in Emby within 10 minutes. I started with several providers and indexers at first and whittled it down to Eweka (Omicron)/Newsdemon (Usenetexpress) for providers and Geek/Drunkenslug/althub for indexers.
how good is althub? seems like they are focused on ebooks are they good for other media
It’s my go to for ebooks, but with tv and movies it only pulls ~5% in NZBHydra stats vs the 65% of DS.
that’s $100 too much for me
Not having to worry about seeders/leeches, ratios, using a VPN, or waiting to download is worth the $6 for everything I pay per month. I can get a 10gb movie in a matter of a few minutes. Once you experience Usenet for yourself, it’s really hard to go back to mucking about with torrents. Feels like the dark ages.
As for obscure stuff, yeah, you can still download anything on the server at full speed, no matter how old it is. Most servers have 3-5000 days retention. Never had any trouble finding a TV show, and the oldest I’ve personally downloaded is a 10 year old show, which of course I downloaded as fast as my connection could handle. No searching for a torrent that’s not dead, as long as it’s still there, it downloads. No wait, no hassle, just click a button in Sonarr/Radarr and and 30 seconds later I’m watching it.
Sounds like usenet isn’t something for me then… I think 90% of our movie/tv library is more than 10 years old
Maybe. But the 5000 day retention most servers have is since upload. It doesn’t relate to how old the series or movie in question is. If you search for a title, you’re almost certainly going to find a few dozen or so versions of that title in various definitions and age. For example, just for kicks, I searched for episodes of the Andy Griffith show, and the oldest files I found were 3700 days old. The series is a bit older than that, of course.
You can get plenty of older shows on Usenet it’s not like you won’t find something like Star Trek from the 60’s. Hell I recently started downloading V from 1984 so…
It’s just you. I get easynews for $45 a year on their valentine’s plan, includes unlimited nntp, unlimited web (which is really useful given the search) and a free VPN to boot. Bargain of the century
It’s easynews all in one? Just pay and go?
It can be. You can use easynews without a nzb provider if you want, but it obvs works better with one!
I’ve been a happy customer for nearly two decades!
I think my provider is newsgroup direct and my indexer is nzbgeek
frugal usenet here as well but i have collected block accounts over the years that really never get used so they just sit there.
Block accounts?
Block accounts are a preset amount of gigabytes that you buy and then you can use them up as you see fit without a rebill every month or year and then buy more when you want.
Are you me?
im not sure, maybe you are actually me?
Can’t be, I am actually you. Don’t forget to do that thing later.
I use Eweka/usenetprime and use Nzbplanet/NzbGeek these days.
Do you mean provider (the guys you pay so you can access usenet at all) or indexer (the guys who organize the files so you can find anything)
Both
Frugal Usenet, I did the one that gets you the block storage then ended up adding more block storage after that ran up
Newsgroup.ninja, because I support fellow ninjas and pirates.
Have a backup block on Usenet Farm which I’ve basically never needed.
Usenetbucket
I’ve been looking at eweka since mullvad removed port forwarding but i now have 1000/400 internet and like seeding so vpn recommendations are welcome (and indexers)
No VPN necessary. Eweka and Geek is a great combination.
I have a Block News account that I add to every now and then. I haven’t used it in a couple years since the indexer I was using shut down. Haven’t really looked for a new indexer though.
Usenight
