Using newsgroups

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

I've always had 'free' access to newsgroups because of my ISP but could never be bothered using them because of the massive amount of hassle it would take to get anything working, but that problem has been solved. I'm sure some geeks readin this will know already, but there are now 'nzb' files which are about a few hundred k each, and which contain all the info required to get the files you want.

You need a newsgroup reader to use the files, but I found a good free one called Android Automatic Newsgroup Downloader, which you can get here: www.sb-software.com/android

The next step is to get the nzb files, which are available on quite a few sites if you google, but here's one that is simple to use and has a fair amount of stuff. www.tvnzb.com

Brown Sauce · Joined: 07 Jan 2007

but to get any of the real good oday shit you have to pay ...

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

How do you mean? I see on that site they have this week's Simpsons, American Dad etc.

nekokate · Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Location: West Yorkshire, UK

I don't mind paying for a good service. I'm all for torrent sites and stuff, but I do have a problem with people who literally want everything for nothing. I mean, I bunged 20 Euros in the direction of a torrent site recently (which means I'm exempt from pruning, apparently) because the service is really good and the downloads are fast as fuck.

I think Face understands this, too, because he also rightfully asks for donations from the people who download from him every single day.

I just hate massive corporations - I'd have no problem paying towards a newsgroups type thing if I knew I could download whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

the problem with giving money to a torrent site is that the cappers and uploaders who are actually giving their time and bandwidth aren't the ones who get the money...

Brown Sauce · Joined: 07 Jan 2007

bit late to reply but I'm talking more of software ...

as for paying for torrent sites, one point of piracy is that people shouldn't make money from it. The ratio aspect that many torrent sites have is OK if everyone has the same up down speed. If one has a relatively slow up rate, then eventually you will have to pay the site owner a few euro's to download stuff. If as my suspicion holds, that the site owner has huge upload potential, then it turns into a money making buisness.

I don't mind at all paying a few euros here and there if it's all above board, and I have saved one site from demise a while ago, but if in the case of bitme there is a user base of 20,000, that's a fuck of a lot of a few euros.

nekokate · Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Brown Sauce · Joined: 07 Jan 2007

I'll probably end up doing that too, for the same reason as yourself, but I used to be able to keep a nice ratio going with not too much working out. Now the down speeds are fast, but there are one or two that are upping at over 250 kwahtevers, that kills off the likes of me, and by the sounds of it you too. If the site owners have access to this kind of speed it's money in the bank for doing very little and making money off the back of the folks that try to keep stuff free ...

I don't think that there's much we can do about it ...

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

Putting stuff on humyo is one way to get round it - you only have to upload once and the file is permanent. I've seen all sorts on there, from full XP and Office packages to new movies and music. It's free, you don't need to faff about with rars and pars, and it's quick (I was getting 1.3mb/s downloads last night).

The biggest problem with ratios is 'ratio whores' who want to be seen as special simply because they live somewhere where the technology is available to go that fast. This is the main reason I moved away from torrents a couple of years back - no one is excluded for technical reasons here.

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

I just found this site and it's immediately gone in my favourites as it gives mostly good reviews of all new 'scene' releases. Not only that, but links to newsgroup, torrents, rapidshare etc downloads.

You'll probably notice that they talk about all the 'nukes' etc and refer more to the release group than the actual file, but it's a lot more revealing than most sites, meaning you can get things you might otherwise have passed by.