Originally posted by WJ99:

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I think i've got it now. Have done a lot of reading but still don't understand why people pay for newsgroup servers instead of using free alternatives such as torrents?

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Originally posted by WJ99:

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Why doesn't everyone use torrents instead as it's much simpler, easier and by the look of it, free.

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Originally posted by funksoulb:

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Originally posted by WJ99:

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Why doesn't everyone use torrents instead as it's much simpler, easier and by the look of it, free.

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There's a few reasons. Torrents constantly rely on other people to share the files, so they can be seriously slow at times, especially on public trackers. With Usenet, you will usually always max out your download speed throughout the download. You don't have to share anything with newsgroups, so there's no uploading (so it's less risky) and no ratio to maintain. Also, torrents will die as soon as there's no longer a seed/distributed copy and they'll slow down as fewer people share the files. Files on newgroups stay alive for as long as the retention period offered by your Usenet provider (416 days with Giganews for example) and the downloads will be as fast on day 415 as they are on day 1.

You need to sign up with a Usenet provider. Some ISPs over free Usenet access, but the retention (how long the files stay on the server) is usually very short. I use Giganews which gives unlimited access and 416 days retention for $25 a month, but they have cheaper packages if you're not going to be downloading a massive amount. I use newgroups for pretty much everything these days, so I'm always downloading something.

Once you have an account with a Usenet provider, fire up Grabit and right click where it says "My Grabit", then choose "Add server" and enter in the account details. You're all set up then. If you're primarily downloading Xbox 360 games, what I usually do is look for a game I want on abgx.net, then I can find what the file names are. Once I've done that I'll use a Usenet search engine like Binsearch to find the files and create an NZB file. The NZB is a bit like a .torrent file. You double click it and Grabit will fire up, and the download will begin. A better search engine for Usenet is Newzbin, as the files are properly indexed and categorised, and it allows users to leave comments, although you have to pay to use it (it's cheap though).

Hope that helps.

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Originally posted by WJ99:

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Actually helps a huge amount. Not sure if I want the added expense. I'm going to see if my ISP provides access. Is there anything specific I have to ask them?

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Quote:

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Also to make sure I go this straight you download a program and then go on newzbin search up the file and then download a nzb which the program runs right?

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