Can someone explain Usenet to a long-time torrent-er? - eviltoast

I’m a pretty heavy torrent user, running a media server complete with sonarr/radarr for automatic downloads. I download a lot, and have multiple TBs of upload on various private trackers. I’ve been torrenting forever, but I’ve always wondered about usenet. Over and over on this, and other, forums I see people saying that usenet is way better - but why?

I understand what it is overall, but what makes it better than traditional torrenting? In my mind, it’s always just seemed like a different means to the same end. I pay for a VPN and torrent for “free”, or I pay for usenet access and download directly from there. As someone who’s “snobby” around the quality of the stuff I torrent, does usenet provide an advantage there?

Usenet fans, I’d love to hear what makes you love it! I’m always open to trying new things, and if It really is better I’d love to know why! (Plus, maybe what providers/tools etc you recommend).

  • SciPiTie @iusearchlinux.fyiEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    Thanks a bunch for the explanation! One followup question though: how do I find a decent indexer that’s working well with the arr world? I briefly looked into it and frankly was overwhelmed by the amount out there - and some of those pages straight out look fishy…

    Thanks in advance! ♥

    • theUnlikely@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      81·
      1 year ago

      Boy are you in luck! A quite decent indexer that is normally invite only just opened registrations for what I assume is a very limited time: DrunkenSlug. They have a free tier which is limited to 25 API hits and 5 downloads per day. For €15/year, that gets bumped up to 1000 API hits and 100 downloads per day.

      Another popular one that doesn’t require an invite: NZBgeek. They don’t have a free tier. I don’t think they have any hard limits on API hits and downloads. Pricing is $6/6mo, $12/yr, $40/5yr and $80/lifetime.

      • SciPiTie @iusearchlinux.fyiEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Thanks!

        But now I’ll have to decide if I wait for black Friday for a test run with a provider or if I’m greedy :D

        • theUnlikely@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          Since Black Friday isn’t too far away, it’s probably worth waiting. Just make sure to snag a DrunkenSlug account while it’s open.

      • pory@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I grabbed my first nzb from drunkenslug, but Google results for an nzb client seem to be SEO-spammed and full of clients that are their own indexing platforms. Is nzbget good? It’s the only one I could find that doesn’t look like it’s trying to sell me something.

        • theUnlikely@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          NZBGet is good and I used it for a long time, but it’s no longer receiving any updates. I might recommend SABnzbd instead since it’s still actively being updated.