Better Than BitTorrent: Usenet Tutorial (Revised)

BitTorrent has been getting more and more recognized by the day. Although bittorrent is a nice tool for file-sharing, there is an even better way of doing it: Usenet (aka newsgroups). Newsgroups have been around forever - even before the world wide web. It’s very surprising that this method of sharing files has not hit mainstream yet.

There are many reasons why using newsgroups to get files is better than bittorrent:

1. Download: The download speed is ALWAYS maximum. So if your ISP allows you to download at 1000kb/s, you will get that speed consistently.
2. Upload: No need to worry about ratio’s! Why? Because there is no need to upload, ever. All the files are already located where they need to be, so unlike bittorrent, constantly monitoring your upload speed and ratio is unnecessary.
3. Search: There is no need to be in private communities to receive the best and most recent files. If you know where to look (and this tutorial will teach you) you can easily find any files that are available.
4. Doesn’t clog up your connection. There is no need to connect to 100 peers for each file, like in torrents. Just connect to the newsserver, and you are set.
5. The files get to newsgroups first. Then they are dispersed to other filesharing methods, like torrents or fxp forums.

What You’ll Need:
GrabIt - This is the program which will download, repair, and extract the files.

Getting Started:
You’ll need a newsgroup server (NNTP). Many ISP’s offer their servers for you to use. Check the web site of your ISP to get the server. Alternatively, check this site for information about various ISP’s and their Usenet capability. If you can’t find it, go call you ISP and ask them. Many of the major ISP’s (Roadrunner, Verizon = Jackpot) do give uncapped access, which is excellent. Once you find the server address, write it down. We’ll use it later. Take note of the retention rates also. It simply means the number of days that the files stay on the server.

If your ISP doesn’t offer you NNTP access, you’re not out of luck. Unfortunately you have to pay for using Usenet. Here are some providers that you can use:

NewsHosting
Giganews
Power Usenet

Installing GrabIt
After downloading and installing GrabIt, type the server information. Then, it will ask you if you want to use GrabIt for repairing and extracting. Make sure you say yes. This will ensure that you do not need to use any other programs to make the files work.

In GrabIt, Go to Edit - Preferences and then the Folders Tab. Here, change the download folder to wherever you want the downloads to go. Change anything else you want. If you want to extract with a different program, like 7zip or winrar, then go to the Repair and Extract tab and disable extracting.

NZB Files?:
For newsgroups, we use the file extension “.nzb”. This is the equivalent to a “.torrent” file used in bittorrent. Like bittorrent, you’ll need some sources to find these .nzb files. These web site are called indexing sites.

Note: There are sites out there that will make you pay for their indexing. DO NOT pay for them. There are indexing sites that do the exact same thing for free.

Where To Find NZB Files and How To Use Them

Newzleech is one of the best. To use newzleech, follow this guide:

1. Go on Newzleech and search for whatever you want.
2. Once you get results, check if there is a little image that looks like a paper next to the name (highlighted in yellow in the picture to the right). If it’s there, click on it and then “Get NZB”.
3. Load the NZB in GrabIt, and let the program do its magic.
4. However, if there is no picture, check the box next to the file name and click “Get NZB”. Then, click on “Get NZB” again. Open the NZB in GrabIt. Done. GrabIt will do the rest.

Another thing to look out for is the age and percent done. Depending on the news server you use, the age retention will differ. The percent done tells you whether all the files are on Usenet or are just still being uploaded. Make sure its at 100, although it can be a little lower and repair itself.

More indexing sites:
binsearch
NZBIndex.nl
NZBFile
Newzbin

Have any questions? Comment
Note: LiveSlick doesn’t condone downloading illegal files. Usenet can and should be used for sharing legal files.

Technorati Tags: usenet , newsgroups , file sharing , bittorrent , GrabIt

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