So for a lot less than what a Usenet provider costs, you can purchase a VPN from Private Internet Access (and others). So are there still reasons why you would want to use Usenet?
Uncompromised download speed for one. Usenet will always utilise the maximum available bandwidth connection. Whereas with torrents I don’t get the same unless it’s from a well-seeded torrent - and definitely not while connected to a VPN.
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always encrypted, VPNs can disconnect
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faster downloads
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easier automation
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I can afford it
This list goes from least to most important to me.
How much will you be paying for a seedbox to maintain your ratios?
Originally I was after automated downloading via stuff like SickBeard, but, honestly, I now just pay for the convenience. Even ‘fast’ torrents generally feel slow to me now compared to newsgroups…
As people have mentioned for me it’s speed and the automation
I have Kat set as a backup in sonar which picks up some wierd shit that doesn’t go to Usenet. But I set my system up like 3 years ago and I haven’t touched it since that’s why Usenet does it for me. I get home check nzbunity for what’s downloaded flick to my Mac and press play job done
Most important my wife can work it, which saves me countless hours of wanting to pull my eyes out explaining technology
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Usenet is faster, and I always get the same speed
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Much easier to automate usenet, I’m not going to go manually search, download, rename, and move all my shows as it would be a huge pain in the ass.
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Don’t have to worry about the VPN disconnecting
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Costs basically the same as a VPN
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I find releases are more reliable, very few fake or mislabeled ones
For me, one of the big reasons for Usenet is the massive retention. Sometimes I’ll remember a show that I really liked from 7 years ago. I can find it and download it at max speed. I don’t have to pray that there might be one or two people still seeding it at 20KB/s.
Automation seems to be a bit easier with usenet in my experience. But the usual software has made great headway in that area and I’ve found myself using private trackers (but with a seedbox) more and more. That being said, the DMCA takedowns are rampant with usenet and back logging with private trackers is great.
VPNs are single point of monitoring.
Personally I’ve gone back to torrents the last 6 months or so, all my Usenet downloads fail, if I’m lucky 1/10 actually complete. Not sure if it’s my outdated client (Sab on qnap is only 6.something) or my providers, usenetbucket unlimited with blocknews and thundernews backups, but I was just wasting time and my data cap trying. Never managed to get couckpotato working but the Downloads I’m trying are hours old and still failing
the major difference is that VPN encrypts ALL your traffic, regardless which app it is, while usenet only encrypts its own downloading.
so for me, the deal break for VPN is that you cannot run other services that need WAN access on the same computer. for example, you can’t access your plex library or webdav sharing if you have VPN turned on. it’s a whole ‘take it or leave it’ package, either dont encrypt your download, or encrypt everything. usenet is far superior here.
You’re not leeching from anyone but the servers you’re paying for. You’re also not uploading anything (unless you’re one of the generous souls keeping Usenet stocked).
I do both.
I use usenet for stuff immediately after it airs, it’s all automated and I’ve got the show usually minutes after it’s aired.
Torrent indexers are also in the automation (sonarr, couchpotato) for completion. If a few usenet downloads fail it will try torrents.
Easynews offers $9.99 unlimited NNTP with a $2 vpn addon. Super affordable. I don’t bother with block accounts/multiple providers as anything that fails a newsgroup download will come via torrent shortly after.
So, in summary - torrents for completion, newsgroups for speed. Automate with sonarr, couchpotato, nzbget, deluge and never look back.
Also, if you’re going the VPN route do yourself a favor and set it up in pfsense on a separate network so that failure=no internet rather than unprotected downloads.
i use torrents mostly. DMCAs nigh impossible to enforce with torrents. Once its out there, its in the wind, at least more so than with usenet.
“So for a lot less than a Ferrari costs, I can buy a Honda Accord. Are there still reasons why you would want to buy a Ferrari?”
Yes, your setup does what you need it to do. But it’s not automated, you’re not maxing your download speeds, you might have to wait a long time to get enough seeders for uncommon or older content, etc. It’s fine. If it gets you around, keep driving it.
I’d say there are plenty of reasons not to use Usenet.
I jumped ship about a year ago to using exclusively torrents. Fully automated with Sonarr and Couchpotato, I hardly notice a difference.
- easier automation
This is a big one. Once you’re running, the only maintenance is paying your bills for the service and your indexer[s].
- always encrypted, VPNs can disconnect
I run a VM that firewalls everything but the local ip of my nas and the ip of my VPN.
Don’t use a dedicated seedbox, just download normally from public trackers from my pc. This is ok to do with a VPN.