Hi,

Sorry if this has been posted before but I’m looking at trying Usenet instead of torrents.

I’ve done some Googling and honestly, it’s a little overwhelming knowing what Usenet provider to use, where to get quality indexers and which download client would be the best.

If anyone has any resources or advice to help me sail the Usenet seas I would be eternally grateful!

  • Footnote2669@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    Sabnzbd for downloading, Frugal usenet for provider, Nzbgeek and drunkenslug for indexer

    • HumanPerson@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      7 months ago

      How much does all that cost? Or rather, does all that cost? I currently torrent but could see getting into Usenet if I don’t have to provide payment info.

      • Footnote2669@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        Sabnzbd is free, you can install anywhere basically. The rest is not free unfortunately, someone has to host the files, as there are no peers in usenet. I think some, if not all, providers and indexers can be paid with crypto or even mailing them the money by post.

        Provider is €50 a year. Indexers are around €10 a year, but there are lifetime subscriptions for some.

        In return, you don’t need a VPN, download speeds are stable and there is no seeding.

        Out of 220 files downloaded, I only needed torrents 12 times, rest is usenet.

        Read up on benefits of one over the other before switching :)

        • retro@infosec.pub
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          7 months ago

          My Prowler stats over the last 90 days are ~1600 usenet grabs vs ~40 torrents. Definitely worth it not have to seed and constant gigabit speed.