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NZBMatrix Closes Their Website

An anonymous reader writes "Hot on the heels of the closure of Newzbin2, this morning the usenet NZB indexing website NZBMatrix closed shop in the face of another DMCA notice. NZBMatrix allowed users to sift through messy usenet groups and quickly find data for download. NZBMatrix's API allowed automated polling from various clients, making it one of the more popular NZB sites. This is one of the last public NZB indexing sites, leaving mostly invite-only underground sites. A sad day for usenet users everywhere."

78 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No More Public Usenets by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    What?

    I havn't used usenet for years, but this is the last one? Comeon...

    Just googles and I was able to find a couple sites that seem to offer the same service.

    indexing != access. though, since you're going to end up paying for binaries access anyways, it's not that much of a hassle to use some other nzb site or find nzb's with the usenet providers search.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  2. NZBMatrix had a great community, like Demonoid by BenJeremy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You could always rely on a decent number of comments for popular releases to filter a good download form a bad one.

    Sad to see this one go, as I had relied on it more and more well before Newzbin closed its doors.

    1. Re:NZBMatrix had a great community, like Demonoid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You could always rely on a decent number of comments for popular releases to filter a good download form a bad one.

      It's almost like there should be some sort of NET that people could USE to talk about things, sorta like a web forum, but not requiring the use of a web browser, and definitely not requiring a central point of failure like a web server. Servers could pass forum posts between each other via TCP over some unused port, like, say, port 119.

  3. Another 10 bucks wasted by Spritzer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How nice of them to accept premium payments up to the day they closed.

    1. Re:Another 10 bucks wasted by Fallenhalo · · Score: 1

      How nice of them to accept premium payments up to the day they closed.

      I joined 3 months ago, best $10 i ever spent!

    2. Re:Another 10 bucks wasted by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2

      $10- 3 years ago. Definitely the best. I wonder what this means for sickbeard and the like.

    3. Re:Another 10 bucks wasted by damien_kane · · Score: 1

      $10- 3 years ago. Definitely the best. I wonder what this means for sickbeard and the like.

      SB has its own indexer for episodes (SBIndex, it's in the config).
      As for "the like", however, if you can find a free/premium provider still around (look around on this thread, and you'll probably find a couple) that support the same arguments in their search as NZBmatrix does (there are a few), then you can get by with adding your own providers

    4. Re:Another 10 bucks wasted by ottothecow · · Score: 1
      Yes, it allows discretion since it is hard to tell at what point a service has been rendered.

      I think "I paid them $10 yesterday for a month/quarter/year of service and today they closed their business" is a pretty clear cut case for transaction reversal.

      Of course, if they declared bankruptcy it would be different since you'd probably have to get in line with all the other creditors...but it seems like they just decided to close because the future didn't look good.

      --
      Bottles.
  4. Only one thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Google != Internet
    Nzbmatrix != Usenet.

  5. A sad day for whom, you say? by Shag · · Score: 2

    *.binaries.* downloaders are a much smaller set than "Usenet users everywhere."

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    1. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by BenJeremy · · Score: 1

      Are you really sure about that?

    2. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by johanw · · Score: 1

      I'm still using usenet discusion (i.e. non-binary) groups. They have both advantages and disadvntages over webfora. One advantage is that you can really say what you like - no forum mailtainer that bitches about blocking XXX remarks or discussions about cracked software.

    3. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Yes, its not even a little bit hard to confirm, you just open a client, list groups that have new messages 'today'.

      Once most people grow up, they just buy software rather than warez it.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    4. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by houghi · · Score: 2

      Having the ability to use Usenet clients and thus have threads that you can follow is another plus.
      Having all the discussions in one place is also nice. No need to browse through several websites and on that website several threads is also a HUGE plus.
      The distributed part is also very nice. No central server that can be blocked.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    5. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by 1u3hr · · Score: 2

      you just open a client, list groups that have new messages 'today'.

      And find 90% of them are spam selling sport shoes or fake watches, or Bollywood porn.

      Thanks to Google Groups, spam has swamped just about every text newsgroup. I was an avid news junkie for more than 10 years, but have barely looked in in the last five. It's so sad to check on what used to be an active community and find a few forlorn posts in a sea of spam.

    6. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hear hear. I don't think I've illegally downloaded a game since Steam's selection got so big pretty much anything I'm ever interested in gets released there. The situation when it comes to getting TV shows and movies legally online is simply atrocious. If outside the US, it's pretty much non-existent.

      Sickbeard + Usenet has been my savior for a number of years now. I guess it won't be long until I should cancel my Usenet subscription and put that money into a VPN service and use torrent instead.

    7. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by safetyinnumbers · · Score: 2

      I people won't believe this, but I used to get usenet to read the articles.

    8. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Unless you want to drown in Gucci spam, you're still going to be moderated.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    9. Re:A sad day for whom, you say? by 91degrees · · Score: 2

      Which groups are still active? The handful I used to use seem to be spam with perhaps an occasional semi-automated posting.

  6. Re:No More Public Usenets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The best combo is predb.me / nzbindex.nl

    Astranews sucks now too much content is missing.

    Going to need to use a NL only provider without US Servers.

  7. Need to decentralize by johanw · · Score: 1

    In the ongoing battle between artificial monopolies against free sharing all centralized single point of failures are under attack. Now they attack usenet by attacking the search engines. Decentralized systems with also decentralized search technology are the future - try shutting down something like the eMule KAD network. Combined with tools like PeerBlock to keep the spyfirms out this is still pretty secure.

    1. Re:Need to decentralize by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      There are no 'decentralized' systems on the Internet. Not even newsgroups, which are about as close as you can get.

      Just because you apply the word decentralized to something you don't understand, doesn't make it true.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    2. Re:Need to decentralize by nogginthenog · · Score: 1

      Or host a TOR NZB site...

    3. Re:Need to decentralize by cultiv8 · · Score: 1

      The Tor2Web project is pursuing just this. See the .onion nym system proposal specifically, one of the more exciting projects towards anonymity and decentralization on the internet (short of a decentralized dns system, but I digress).

      --
      sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
    4. Re:Need to decentralize by johanw · · Score: 1

      eMule is close enough. Each node is equivalent to another, and searches are done through the nodes, so there is no single website to block. Further, the software is open source so going after the maintainers (like they did with Limewire and edonkey) won't work too.

    5. Re:Need to decentralize by Mascot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They're going after the Usenet providers as well, via automated DMCA takedown requests. The providers have no choice but to comply (and to keep up, also automating the process), which means content is effectively gone within hours of being uploaded.

      The irony when it comes to TV shows/movies is the same as it used to be with the music industry: the stuff being downloaded is largely not available to buy online legally. I wish they would put their efforts into making this content available for purchase instead of wasting their time trying to stem the flood of copyright infringement.

    6. Re:Need to decentralize by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      I was starting to talk about Overnet/eDonkey, but it appears that it has been taken down by RIAA. Apparently it wasn't truly decentralized.

    7. Re:Need to decentralize by johanw · · Score: 1

      eDonkey had a single point of failure: the software was closed-source and maintained by a company that could be sued to bancrupcy. eMule, that was developed als an open eDonkey client, does not suffer from that problem. It is open source and several forks are in widespread use.

    8. Re:Need to decentralize by johanw · · Score: 1

      The providers have one very big choice: move to a country with more freedom than the US, like Ukraine. Especially countries that are pissed off by the US and are more than happy to return the favor.

    9. Re:Need to decentralize by mister_playboy · · Score: 1

      LimeWire was GPL... that's why FrostWire existed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LimeWire

      The network was so centralized that the openness of the program didn't mean much. FrostWire went Bittorrent only soon after LimeWire was shutdown to avoid legal trouble.

      --
      Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
  8. I am not sad by houghi · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Binaries killed Usenet. Because of these binaries, many providers stopped, because it was taking up too much space and bandwidth.
    Because they stopped, many people stopped using the real discussion groups.

    So instead of having one place where I can get to ask questions in one place in an easy way, I have to go to multiple websites that all have a lousy way of interfacing with other people.

    The websites do the filtering, where with Usenet I am able to do it myself. OK, binaries are not the only ones to help kill it. Others were webtv and Outlook (Toposting and HTML posting) and Google (By buying and then changing deja.com).

    Yet I am sure that binaries are the most important one. Text based can be done by almost any provider with very limited resources.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:I am not sad by DerekLyons · · Score: 1, Troll

      Binaries killed Usenet. Because of these binaries, many providers stopped, because it was taking up too much space and bandwidth.
      Because they stopped, many people stopped using the real discussion groups.

      So instead of having one place where I can get to ask questions in one place in an easy way, I have to go to multiple websites that all have a lousy way of interfacing with other people.

      This.

      The loss of NZBmatrix and it's bastard ilk are no loss for actual Usenet users - only for those (mis)using it to share and download files. Good riddance to bad rubbish I say, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

    2. Re:I am not sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How is this moderated up so high. No provider was forced to shudder their doors because of the huge size of the binaries groups. Just dont carry the group. Usenet discussion died because of spam and web forums.

    3. Re:I am not sad by StormyWeather · · Score: 5, Informative

      This comment is factually correct, although it's modded down because it is contrary to someones worldview, that's often the case with Slashdot negative moderation. I used to run a NNTP server for a small ISP in 1994. I just filtered out the worst offending binary groups when the cost became prohibitive. I ran an NNTP server on a 486 with a couple scsi drives just fine with just the text groups. I can't imagine it being a "huge cost" to any ISP without the binaries.

    4. Re:I am not sad by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 1

      Binaries never killed usenet. It only forced some providers to go text only (there are many and pretty much all are free, google them). Email and groups (yahoo groups, gmail groups and other newsletter service) is what really killed usenet.

    5. Re:I am not sad by MMC+Monster · · Score: 1

      What about the ability to handle spam?

      Spam was a problem for usenet in the early 90s (when I left). Can't imagine what it's like now.

      --
      Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
    6. Re:I am not sad by johanw · · Score: 1

      Spam is on the groups I am on not much of a problem anymore: the marketeers seems to have forgotten the textgroups on usenet. Sometimes I do have problems with other kinds of spam, like the sci.physics.* groups being overrun by crackpots, but for that there are moderated groups like sci.physics.research.

    7. Re:I am not sad by water-and-sewer · · Score: 5, Informative

      The text groups are not dead; not by a long shot, and for some topics they're still a great first place to look (Perl questions or Lisp for example).

      Go to aioe.net (org?) for a free text group provider. Albasani is another, although the owner, Alexander Bartolich sadly passed away suddenly earlier this year so it's not clear how much longer that site will be around. EndlessSeptember - or something like that - is also providing free text groups.

      And the forum at www.dictatorshandbook.net is technically a news server. Connect to it with a news client (Unison, SLRN, Knode, TIN, Pine, Thunderbird) to give it a try and remember how much awesomer NNTP threads are relative to web forums or -- gack -- AJAXy Facebook-type stuff.

      --
      If this were Usenet, I'd killfile the lot of you.
    8. Re:I am not sad by quenda · · Score: 2

      Usenet died when it was opened to the great unwashed masses. AOL was the start.
      The golden age of usenet was only possible because it was largely restricted to intelligent educated grown-ups. Or at least college students who were a minority enough that they soon got pulled into line with netiquette. That was the day with everyone used their real names, and many had their phone number in the .signature footer.

    9. Re:I am not sad by antdude · · Score: 1

      Any free fast binary usenet services? [grin]

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    10. Re:I am not sad by SecurityTheatre · · Score: 2

      how much awesomer NNTP threads are relative to web forums or -- gack -- AJAXy Slashdot-type stuff.

      FTFY

    11. Re:I am not sad by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      That's why you have an indexing service like nzbmatrix and nzb files. You never actually usenet itself.

    12. Re:I am not sad by Slashdot+Parent · · Score: 1

      Any free fast binary usenet services? [grin]

      Yup! But you can only access it from the restaurant down the block that offers free lunch. You know the one, right? Across the street from the unicorn zoo?

      --
      They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
  9. Indexing Bots by Adrian+Lopez · · Score: 1

    They say once they're done with this latest DMCA notice they'll be left with "an impossible task of policing our indexing bots." I'm not aware of any law requiring content to be filtered as it arrives, so why would they have to police their indexing bots?

    --
    "In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
  10. Re:You mean tens of thousands of dollars* saved. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    He paid $10 for higher retention, what he used that for is his business.

    What if he used that for Linux ISOs? Do you know if he did? What if he didn't? He has no rights otherwise?

    Does he even live in a country where Big Content have their hands in lawmaking? That's right, you don't even know any of that, so don't assume.

  11. Re:No More Public Usenets by __aasehi2499 · · Score: 1

    Going to need to use a NL only provider without US Servers.

    Any suggestions? Anchordudes used to be a good source for usenet servers, but the info that they have seems to suggest that there aren't any non-US based services that they know of anymore, and that most of the hundreds of usenet providers are just reselling the few backends that exist.

  12. What's wrong with binsearch? by StormyWeather · · Score: 2

    Binsearch.info is coming back with relevant results still, that's what I've always used, and it does an acceptable job.

    1. Re:What's wrong with binsearch? by antdude · · Score: 1

      But how long will it last? It won't last forever. What other good ones are there like it?

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    2. Re:What's wrong with binsearch? by StormyWeather · · Score: 1

      I think it will last. Binsearch doesn't categorize on pirated goods. It just provides a string search function. I never subscribed to nzbmatrix but I think they provided graphics to show what movies people were getting, and stuff like that, and categorized based upon pirate goods. Binsearch does no categorization that I know of.

  13. Too many people... by spagthorpe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too many people violated the first rule of USENET.

    --

    WWJD -- What Would Jimi Do?
    (Smash amp, burn guitar, take home the groupies)

    1. Re:Too many people... by unr3a1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That's not really the point. Yes, Usenet is old, but it was generally unknown to the majority of your average computer users. For years, the MAFIAA has been going after torrenting, with seemingly no knowledge of the capabilities and common use for Usenet. Now all of the sudden, NZB sites and Usenet providers have been getting hit with the DMCA notices. Again, seemingly it's apparent that the MAFIAA has only recently become aware of Usenet, so spagthorpe was using a funny and appropriate movie reference to point out that a lot of people couldn't keep the Usenet secret to themselves.

    2. Re:Too many people... by BenJeremy · · Score: 1

      That's because of the sophistication of the people the RIAA and MPAA employ to battle copyright violations. They are gettign better, or perhaps, people who have been in the "scene" for a long time are more than willing to cash in (sell out) and collect bounties on takedown notices.

      Torrents offer a revenue stream through legal intimidation of its users, but usenet is still a problem for the RIAA and MPAA, so as the legal revenue stream of suing (or threatening to sue) torrent users dries up, they are left with cleaning up the remaining sources of pirated media.

      This can be solved, though. Safe havens are few and far between, and even so-called "private" invite-only sites are far from untouchable - what is needed is for a new binary news client that can handle encrypted binary packets. and an infrastructure that can track, using users' signatures, who accesses what files from a "secure indexer" - when a takedown notice appears, you can isolate the infiltration to that block of users. Such a pro-active approach could then even provide false results to ferret out the spy among legitimate users.

      Many indexers already use logins and API keys, so the idea of using a digital signature isn't farfetched. Tracking users because they, for example, are accessing a TV series file that has had takedown notices (Fringe, as an example), then determining how many of them actually accessed the specific search or pulled down the encrypted NZB should be trivial. With a few more references, you could cross-reference the culprit down to a small number, then. Once you identify the user who is working for the media companies, you simply return useless results or delay valid results by days or weeks - or block them out entirely. Eventually, such a "user" will be unable to get a valid invite into the secure index service (and those that invited the spy would also no longer be able to do invites, etc...)

      You can go many levels and still have a practical, workable system.

    3. Re:Too many people... by wild_quinine · · Score: 1

      It got popular, because it just got sooo mucy easier to use over time, and the tools got better. Some were really, really spectacularly mature. The changes were welcomed as they made it more convenient for the knowledgeable, but things also more accessible for the novice demographic. If it had been anything other than the internet's last dirty little secret, usenet would have exploded in the next two years.

    4. Re:Too many people... by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 1

      an infrastructure that can track, using users' signatures, who accesses what files from a "secure indexer"

      You have to become your enemy to defeat him, huh?

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    5. Re:Too many people... by Slashdot+Parent · · Score: 1

      Torrents offer a revenue stream through legal intimidation of its users, but usenet is still a problem for the RIAA and MPAA, so as the legal revenue stream of suing (or threatening to sue) torrent users dries up, they are left with cleaning up the remaining sources of pirated media.

      Also, Usenet policing isn't self-funding like torrent policing is. You can't extort money from the users, because downloading copyrighted works isn't, as far as I'm aware, illegal. It's the uploading that's unlawful.

      Torrent swarms conveniently provide the IP and content of the seeders, and every swarm will have many seeders. With Usenet, you have only one uploader, who is typically going to be very difficult to track down. And once you track that person down, you have only one person to try to extract money from.

      Automated takedowns are pretty much the only reasonably way for studios to control this.

      --
      They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
  14. Re:No More Public Usenets by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 1

    I use a combination of astraweb and sunnynews. It tends to be that if one doesn't have it, the other does. Combined the two will run you $16ish a month. Worth every penny IMO.

    --
    Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
  15. Re:No More Public Usenets by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are some good newznab based providers that I tend to rely upon the most. They work great, and there's basically nothing stopping anybody from building their own.

    There's also binsearch.info. Binsearch is easily the most comprehensive nzb index in existence, only downside is that it is also unfiltered, but the bad stuff is easy to spot (e.g. passworded rars are marked as such, and NZB's that aren't anywhere near large enough to be what they claim to be are obviously not what you're looking for.) Generally if I need something obscure, binsearch is a great last resort if nobody else has it.

    --
    Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
  16. Re:Why not use another method? by SealBeater · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wish I could convey in words how obvious it is that you have no idea what you are talking about.

    --
    -- Its survival of the fittest...and we got the fucking guns!!!
  17. Automation? by nuckfuts · · Score: 1

    The best combo is predb.me / nzbindex.nl

    I don't see any API links on those sites. Is it possible to configure them as search providers in automated download tools like SickBeard and CouchPotato?

    1. Re:Automation? by LanMan04 · · Score: 1

      Nah, they'll have to be added to SB/CP as an option first (by SB/CP developers). No way to just "plug in" a new search provider that I know of.

      Even if there's no API, maybe SB/CP it could screen-scrape the results?

      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
    2. Re:Automation? by neokushan · · Score: 1

      You don't always need an api key to use the rss feed of a site. Sick beard will work just fine with most rss feeds that point to an nzb.

      --
      +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
  18. thanks for the motivation! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I went from reading this this morning to running my own newznab in 4 hours.

  19. Re:Why not use another method? by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You've just further reinforced our impression.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  20. Re:No More Public Usenets by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 1

    They could make pretty big bucks with a service like that with that price point as well, but the problem is you have to get basically all of them on board. This is difficult because all of them want to lay down their own terms and prices, and they all think that they deserve a bigger slice of the pie than the next guy.

    I think the major issue is that they're still ensconced in the cable world right now. When that falls apart (which I strongly believe it will) they'll have to find a new distribution model. Will it move to something like this? Probably not, what we'll likely end up with are monolithic content providers that operate over the internet, and you either subscribe to it all or nothing at all, like we have now.

    I think what would be nice is a unified distribution system that allows you to subscribe or unsubscribe to individual studios willy nilly, or even pay per episode if you'd prefer. They provide their own content servers, and there's an open standard way that any client can connect to them. If they charge too much or you don't like their shows, cancel any time.

    You'd probably pay more for the content than you do watch, but you'd probably also pay less than you pay now. Right now I pay $50 a month for digital cable services and only watch maybe 3 channels. If I pay any less, I lose two of the channels I watch. I'm about to just ditch the thing entirely though.

    --
    Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
  21. GREED wins again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Greedy MPAA and cable giants making more than there share strike again.
    It's not like people that were downloading episodes of TV shows are suddenly going to buy the $50 season on blu-ray or ay $150 a month for overpriced cable TV..
    At least I hope not. They will either do without, or get Netflix... Until greedy ISP's start charging you by the megabyte kills off the Netflix, Hulu, AOD, etc.. option.

  22. Re:You mean tens of thousands of dollars* saved. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Flash didn't decide a month ago he was going to shutdown today, he decided when he got the mass DMCA takedowns. Not like it was a plot to get your $10 bucks and run.

  23. Re:Why not use another method? by SilverJets · · Score: 1

    ROFL

    bittorrent

    ROFL

  24. Re:Why not use another method? by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 2

    Care to mention any IRC channels or DCC hubs where I can download stuff. I thought not. I can point you to a number of usenet indexes and servers. That is advantage of usenet is, you dont need secrecy, and you dont get nailed like bittorent.

  25. Re:Why not use another method? by mab · · Score: 2

    NNTP is much faster in my experience.

  26. Re:Why not use another method? by loufoque · · Score: 3, Interesting

    See xweasel for an index.

  27. nzbs.su invites? by plazman30 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Alright. Who has nzbs.us invites to hand out?

  28. Re:Why not use another method? by X0563511 · · Score: 1

    You just keep diggin' that hole deeper, loufoque. Keep on digging.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  29. Re:Why not use another method? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Erm, this is just flat out not true... I don't know if you're trolling or seriously that ignorant.

    let's see...

    DCC: Extremely Slow - majority of people have slow upload with their ISP, and on top of that most people who serve files have multiple slots, which cuts your download speed even further. Not to mention download queues, or the file server going offline. Not to mention it is not safe, I used to run an Mp3 channel before and I know people who got pulled up by the RIAA. XDCC is also just as bad.

    Bit Torrent: Not as bad - speed can really suck quite often... public trackers are terrible, and you have to upload what you download - which altogether is a terrible idea from a legal perspective. ISP's love to throttle bittorrent connections also. So this is not a particularly great way of getting what you want, but yeh it sure is cheap, at a cost.

    HTTP: I guess you mean the likes of Megaupload? Great until it gets shut down, costs money also, overall not bad except that it is a bit of hassle going through forums and finding the stuff.

    NNTP: Costs money also, but has been largely untouched by the MPAA, download is extremely fast... you say it is slow? I have a 32 mbit connection and I download at a consistent solid 4 MB/s, which is maxing my line, I'd never get that off bit torrent, not while uploading at the same time for sure. Not to mention I am using a non-standard NNTP port with SSL so my ISP don't know what I am downloading and don't throttle me. I don't have to upload a thing, so I feel far safer from prying eyes. You mention files don't stay for long, you obviously haven't used Usenet in a long time because retention is now over 1500 days. So it wins hands down from HTTP, not even mentioning all the applications out there that automate everything... watch a particular tv show? there are apps that automatically download it as soon as it is uploaded - no need to trawl through indexing sites,.... or forums in the case of sites like megaupload. It will be sitting in your media center when you come home from work.

    you say NNTP is costly... I say so is HTTP, and the other ones cannot compete as they are risky territory IMO. $10 a month for unlimited download is hardly a lot. The only thing that sucks about Usenet is the index sites are all closing their doors!

  30. Re:No More Public Usenets by highphilosopher · · Score: 1

    Funny thing is, ask a regular joe was a newsgroup is, and they'll probably re-direct you to Google News search.

  31. Mod Parent Down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    There is no site like that. Don't google it or try to find it. Just go back to eMule or whatever you use. Newsgroups are dead, as are all NZB sites. Tell your friends.

  32. Re:No More Public Usenets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You're too retarded to be around a computer. Grab a glass of water, have a sip, pour the rest on said computer, you have no use for it

  33. Re:No More Public Usenets by Slashdot+Parent · · Score: 1

    They could make pretty big bucks with a service like that with that price point as well, but the problem is you have to get basically all of them on board.

    Isn't that what Hulu was supposed to be?

    --
    They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
  34. Alternatives by Dragomaka · · Score: 1

    Yes, really very pity for these 2, cause the sites were amazing. binsearch is stil available and also for good nzb search nzbfriends