Usenet was what turned me on to the Internet back in 1994. As far as I was concerned, in 1994, Usenet was the Internet. Everything from fandom to discussions to pilfered software could be found there. Usenet also got me interested in UNIX because, at that time, the only way I could use it was to do so through the school’s IRIX-running SGI Indy systems. After a while, I only accessed Usenet through Deja News and later through its successor Google Groups.
For the last three or four years, I’ve been a BitTorrent junkie. I’ve been seeking an alternative so I decided to turn to Usenet for the first time in almost 15 years. If you want to jump in to Usenet, here’s a simple way to do it. This is not intended to be a comprehensive guide by any means, only a primer on how to get started with Usenet.
Premise: You want to be able to find software, media, or files on Usenet and download them. You will need a Usenet provider, an NZB provider, and a fully-featured newsreader.
Usenet provider: SuperNews
My requirements were unlimited downloads, SSL connections, and decent retention time. Out of all the providers out there, I narrowed my choices to Giganews, Easynews, and Supernews. Giganews had the best reputation but at $30 a month it’s way too pricey. Easynews was similarly priced but wasn’t as full featured as Giganews. SuperNews offered unlimited bandwidth, SSL connectivity, 350 days of retention, and 3o simultaneous connections for $11.99 a month. I signed up on a promotional deal for $9.99 a month. Winner: Supernews
NZB Provider: NZBMatrix
NZB‘s are, in layman’s terms, a ‘direct link’ to where you can find specific items on Usenet. The provider I was considering using was Newzbin. The downside of Newzbin is that you have to be referred by an existing user and then you have to periodically buy credits. While the former wasn’t a problem since I have plenty of friends who would refer me, the latter was a bit annoying. One of my friends told me about NZBMatrix which required no referral and a one-time fee of about $32. Winner: NZBMatrix
Newsreader: SABnzbd+
Usenet without a newsreader is like the web with no browser. You have to have one. Back in my day, I used TIN or PINE which are extremely primitive compared to what you’d need to get anything out of Usenet today. My friends all recommended Newsleecher hands-down. Newsleecher is about $20 a year. While that’s a reasonable price, I wanted something that required a one-time payment versus recurring payments. Of course, free would be better than either of those options. In my research, I found SABnzbd+. While the name of that software doesn’t roll off the tongue, it is free software (GPL), cross platform (written in Python), and handles post-processing for files … all you have to do is feed it NZB’s. Sold! Winner: SABnzbd+
Putting it all together
Once you’ve installed SABnzbd+, you simply open a browser, login to NZBMatrix, search for something, save the resulting NZB file, then feed it into SABnzbd+. That’s it.
SABnzbd+ is configurable and has many features that I’ve not even touched on. For my purposes, this simple use case has been sufficient.
My total investment is about ~$150 in the first year and ~$120 after that
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way endorsing piracy. What you do with this knowledge is up to you. I pay for satellite TV, all the movie channels, a Netflix subscription, two satellite radio subscriptions, XBox Live, and all my music comes from Amazon MP3 or iTunes. I also buy all of my own software. I fully support the entertainment and software industries. You should too.
Recent Comments