NewsGroup search

[tomars]

I just signed up with NewsDemon to try 150gb a month for $18 (only because I wanted to pay with paypal and I couldnt find any others that allow paypal)
I wonder, is there a search engine for NewsGroups so I can find stuff more easily, because its going to take ages to find which newsgroups things are in (if any) and I didn't pay for this subscription just to get stuff slower :D
Any help?
Thanks

[mfgbypooter]

Here is a free one.

http://www.binsearch.info/

[tomars]

Thanks, working great :D

[tomars]

Also, what reader do you use? I'm using GrabIt because its the first one I tried but I'm just wondering what others use?

[mfgbypooter]

I used to use Grabit now I'm using Newsleecher V2.1Final which you have to *cough* buy.

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[mfgbypooter]

Here is another site that may interest you.

http://www.nfonews.com/

The whole site is good but look at the top of the home page and click on Header Search (*NEW*)

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[Elvise]

Here's a useful tool for grabbing nzb files:

http://pizza.sohosted.com/nzb_leecher/

[DwarfBaby]

Grabit is the best, and binsearch is good but www.newzbin.com works much better and is nearly free. They charge something like $2.00 per six weeks (or 50 cents a week) which is absurdly cheap considering the service they offer. They also accept Pay pal which is a plus and no reoccurring charges so if you don't like it just let it expire, A.K.A. no need to cancel anything which is a big plus. Try it for six weeks you'll love it.

[tomars]

Thanks mfgbypooter :D

Elvsie, I may sound dumb but what is an nzb file? I cant find information on that site so I'm not really sure what its for, I'm very new to newsgroups :D

But it seems to be working well, I upgraded to unlimited because 150gb had a 5gb per day and I wasted a fair bit of that just downloading the headers :D

But my files are downloading at like 230 which I hardly ever got with bt, this is cool :D
Only thing is, now that I have access to all this stuff at high speeds and relativley safe, I cant think of anything I want heh :D oh well, its there if I need it :D

Thanks all

EDIT: Thanks DwarfBaby, looks good, but I think I'll stick with the free ones just for a while as this is only a tester month, to see how it works etc :D

[DwarfBaby]

nzb files are files that link to the content sort of like torrent files in bittorrent only much better and more accurate. Simply click on the file and it will queue up in grab-it or any other newsreader that supports nzb files. Look here for more information http://docs.newzbin.com/FrequentlyAskedQuestions

[DwarfBaby]

I didn't see that you were still downloading header files. Ah, that brings back memories. Downloading header files is no longer necessary and to be blunt is a waste of time. NZB files remove this tedious task by organizing all file locations into a single file. Search engines like Newzbin or binsearch then display this file kind-of like how suprnova used to only faster and more accurate. Grab-it will then go to the newsgroup and download only that particular file without messing with headers. It is even possible to download the same file across different groups if a file is not complete in one or the other. NZB files are the best thing since par files. A blessing on us Usenet users.

[mfgbypooter]

.nzb files are good but I have found a lot of shit by pulling headers that I would have never found otherwise.

If you read the large groups like I do, and are refreshing your headers often, I find it is neither tedious or time consuming.

But I'm old school, having been using usenet since 1998.

I've also never heard before of a news service counting headers as part of a download limit.

Strange.

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[DwarfBaby]

I agree, but I simply don't have the patience to search through a million header files anymore. I used to be an avid XNews proponent since early 2000 for its simple organization of header files. It was the best in its day. In fact I still have that program on my computer but I looked at the last file I downloaded using it and it was created Jan. 17, 2004. With the largest groups now containing more then 10 million headers the task of searching headers for files is daunting to say the least. Then again maybe I've just gotten lazy. Probably.

I do wonder what newsreader you are using to search header files as Xnews can take half an hour to filter through a million headers not to mention download time.

[tomars]

My news service does :(
Oh well, 25gb a day isn't so bad :D

[mfgbypooter]

I do wonder what newsreader you are using to search header files as Xnews can take half an hour to filter through a million headers not to mention download time.I mentioned it above. I'm using Newsleecher. I got tired of Grabit choking on the larger groups.

Groups I pull headers for daily.

alt.binaries.dvd
alt.binaries.dvdr
alt.binaries.dvdrs
alt.binaries.dvd9
alt.binaries.dvd.music
alt.binaries.sounds.lossless
alt.binaries.sounds.monkeysaudio
alt.binaries.cdimage

I have a few more for warez and cracks but you catch my drift.

tomars: you are better off with an unlimited account. I have one as I am a heavy user, usually downloading 150+ gigs a month. Sometimes not as bad when I am doing a lot of posting (like the other day) but I never have to worry about any limits. And I guarantee when you see what all is on Usenet your usage will only go up.

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[tomars]

Yeah, I have an "unlimited" account on NewsDemon but I'm only allowed 25gb a day. So not really as unlimited as they labelled it, but I can not find 25 gigs worth of stuff everyday, and this is just a trial run to see what its like :D

[shawners]

At binsearch info, Get an RSS reader and it updates on the new files.. also slyck.com, click on newsgroups.. has list of popular binaries as well as info on other parts. And again im using newsbinpro. Use vcdquality as well in picking out videos to get.

[tomars]

Hmmm, this is silly I don't know what happened :D Its unexplainable...
I made a nzb file from all the different episodes of this TV series and I have been downloading for like 2 hours at ~230kbps and the files are downloading but they seem to be going nowhere :D I know this has nothing to do with anything but I cant understand. GrabIt even made a folder for the NewsGroup in the Downloads folder and I have searched my whole hard-drive... nothing. What the hell... oh well, too tired, try again tomorrow :D

[DwarfBaby]

Sometimes grab-it makes a folder for the .nzb file and downloads the actual file to a different file. Check your paths and if that fails run a search on your computer for the file. I've seen this bug before, make sure you have the current version and if all else fails try reinstalling the program.

[tomars]

I got it working, for some reason I had to change the default download location and then it worked. Strange

[shawners]

You know what else to do is to save bandwidth is to search your ISP to see which newsgroups they have. Even if they filter some of the postings, you can get with the other Newsgroup server. Usually the isp takes 4-10 rar's.. Not always, but mine doesnt filter boneless binaries all that much.

[tomars]

My ISP (bt) filters nearly everything, it sucks. I'm switching to ZEN soon and they have uncensored newsgroup access included so, depending on how much I use this, I may just see how well that works.

[mfgbypooter]

Don't feel bad my ISP filters most of their binary groups out completely. So I just use Newshosting which keeps my pipe constantly full to where I don't need my ISP newsgroups anyways.

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[DwarfBaby]

I don't know how newshosting does nowadays, but I had a real bitter experience with them a few years back. They said they were changing servers or something, anyways 3 months of completion ratings below %70 and I was running full speed back to giganews. Right now I download at the full limit of my Comcast line which is 6 megs on every download. The completion rate is stated as %99.9 and I can confirm this. Binary newsgroups retention is about 37 days on average which is outstanding. MP3 files can reach as high as 45 days.

The downside is I pay $24.95 a month but I can honestly say you get what you pay for.

[mfgbypooter]

I've been with Newshosting even before they started their 14.95 unlimited accounts and have never had a problem more than the occasional glicth that all good premium news servers have.

This is from their website:

Groups Retention
binary ~24 days
text ~160 days
Groups Completion
binary 99%+
text 99%+

News on 06/15/05 11:00AM EST

For those interested, we'll be doubling our retention in the next month to around 40+ days. All accounts will have access to this additional retention w/o a price increase

Hard to beat that for 14.95.

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[tomars]

I am paying $25 for NewsDemon and I think I might go for GigaNews next month because I have heard good things about it. I've only been on News Demon for 3 days and have had numerous problems. First they werent giving me the correct number of connections and I had to wait for my account to reset, then I havent been able to connect at all today up until about an hour ago. The worst thing is their website is not finished. The FAQ is only a couple of questions about "how do I sign up?" etc, for any other questions, you have to email them and wait for a response. There are loads of useful looking links which just link directly back to the index page. They didn't even put a message on the site explaining the downtime which really pissed me off. Anyway, I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone.

[DwarfBaby]

How's Newshosting's speed? How long does it take to download a full DVD 4.7 gig?

I truly wouldn't mind saving ten bucks a month if it is worth it. Unfortunately every time I switch providers I still end up back at giganews. Right now a full DVD -r takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes which is the limit of my connection from Comcast (6megs). If Newshosting can deliver those speeds I will consider switching, of course as soon as they upgrade to 40 days retention.

[mfgbypooter]

Their speed is your speed, and their unlimited accounts allow 4 connections vs. 8 for metered accounts. As far as I can tell, I have never seen a difference in download times by connection limits or even in parts vs articles with newsreaders, say, like grabit does with article download per connection. If there is any difference it is negligible.

In the past I have used Giganews, Easynews, Supernews, Usenetserver, Newshosting, and Octanews (that came from Biggulp). I still keep my Octanews block account as a backup because it has 99%+ retention but only drawback there is an 8 day retention. The point is blocks never expire so when there is a hiccup on my primary, then the fill is right there. I just checked that account and I bought a 8 gig block for 7.95 over 6 months ago and have only used 1.5 gigs of it so far.

For my needs and the money Newshosting works just fine. I don't need super long retention because I keep up with new postings in the groups that I frequent where most of the time everything I download is never more than 24 hours old anyways. And because I still pull headers, I know everything that is on the server, and don't have to worry about stumbling across something I may want.

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[tomars]

I have 2mb ADSL at the moment, what download speeds should I expect from a NewsServer? At the moment I am at about 195 KB/s (as it says in GrabIt). What do you think of that speed for my connection? I've got a feeling it could be higher as I have got higher speeds yesterday and even on BitTorrent before.
Thanks

[mfgbypooter]

I looked at NewsDemon's website and it looks like they are probably a rebrander (which backbone I don't know). There was no mention of bandwidth throttling so your download speed should be your ISP's cap. With ADSL your speed could very or it may be on the news server's end. The most you can do is an up/down bandwidth test to see what your capacity really is.

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[DwarfBaby]

195 KB is about right if you calculate x8 you get 1.56 megs which is a little under 2 megs but not bad. Depends a lot on the time of day. It may be that your ISP is the bottleneck not your news server. When I had Verizon DSL my service was rated as 1.5 and I got about 1.1 or 1.2 on average so I have a feeling DSL might have a slightly higher overhead then Cable as I get damn near and sometimes past my 6meg limit with Comcast.

[shawners]

Later i may go for unlimited account, but money is tight.. boneless binaries isnt filtered and they have movies. I got usenetmonster. their price is pretty good and retention is good. It has roll over gigs too.

[SanDiegoKid]

I just signed up for a GigaNews unlimited account yesterday.

I've used NewsbinPro to read groups for so long I never really tried anything else. A couple of my friends swear by Forte' Agent, but I think it sucks.

I don't mind sifting through headers really... it's kind of like reading matrix code after a while.
I haven't been able to get .nzb files to work with NewsbinPro anyway.

[tomars]

I don't mind sifting through headers, its when you have to update 2gb of a.b.multimedia headers just to be able to browse :D

[DwarfBaby]

I just signed up for a GigaNews unlimited account yesterday.

I've used NewsbinPro to read groups for so long I never really tried anything else. A couple of my friends swear by Forte' Agent, but I think it sucks.

I don't mind sifting through headers really... it's kind of like reading matrix code after a while.
I haven't been able to get .nzb files to work with NewsbinPro anyway.

Get grabit or newsleacher, also try a few weeks using Newsbin, at 50 cents a week it really can't be beat. NZB files are a godsend. Also mfgbypooter was right about newsleacher it is an awsome program for headers in fact the best I've ever tried, way better then XNews and really makes reading headers worth it again. Unfortunatly you have to "register" newsleacher with money or get a crack. But it is a sweet program none the less.

[shawners]

I just signed up for a GigaNews unlimited account yesterday.

I've used NewsbinPro to read groups for so long I never really tried anything else. A couple of my friends swear by Forte' Agent, but I think it sucks.

I don't mind sifting through headers really... it's kind of like reading matrix code after a while.
I haven't been able to get .nzb files to work with NewsbinPro anyway.

On newsbin pro.. Open up the directory of where the nzb file is at.. and drag it to your download screen.. It will queue it all up and start downloading.


If you LOOK or search for newsbinpro on the newsgroups.. It will have the full version without paying.

[sebfernando]

hey guys didn't know there were so many newsgroup users

[SamJam]

I used to get the NGs through my ISP, but I changed and recently signed up for Thundernews. I can't seem to UL with PowerPost 2000. Has anyone used Thundernews? I never had this problem when I was getting the NGs through Charter (except for the horrible speeds). I have read the fine print, and Thundernews states UL's don't count towards their limits (which I am unlimited).

I guess my question is...
What programs do you guys use to post to the NGs? Does PowerPost 2000 work with Giganews or Newshosting? Any help is appreciated.

[Jitway]

I used to get the NGs through my ISP, but I changed and recently signed up for Thundernews. I can't seem to UL with PowerPost 2000. Has anyone used Thundernews? I never had this problem when I was getting the NGs through Charter (except for the horrible speeds). I have read the fine print, and Thundernews states UL's don't count towards their limits (which I am unlimited).

I guess my question is...
What programs do you guys use to post to the NGs? Does PowerPost 2000 work with Giganews or Newshosting? Any help is appreciated.

I have used PowerPost with both Giganews and Usenetserver. I works just fine for me.