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July 25, 2006 8:53 AM Subscribe
Usenet question.
Is TITANNews still the way to go? Are there any newer, cooler, hi-speed, no-logs-kept, Mac-friendly places? thanks!
Is TITANNews still the way to go? Are there any newer, cooler, hi-speed, no-logs-kept, Mac-friendly places? thanks!
Usenetserver.com!
Don't really know what you mean by "mac-friendly" as most pay NNTP servers simply provide a username/password to their server and you connect with any client you want.
Usenetserver has always been the best for me--cheap, reliable, very fast (8+ threads), great retention and unlimited downloads.
...first rule of usenet...
posted by jckll at 9:22 AM on July 25, 2006
Don't really know what you mean by "mac-friendly" as most pay NNTP servers simply provide a username/password to their server and you connect with any client you want.
Usenetserver has always been the best for me--cheap, reliable, very fast (8+ threads), great retention and unlimited downloads.
...first rule of usenet...
posted by jckll at 9:22 AM on July 25, 2006
News.individual.net -- TNFKA "the German newsserver" -- for me.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:32 AM on July 25, 2006
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:32 AM on July 25, 2006
I use giganews and have for many years. It just keeps getting better and better. Endless binary retention times, multiple streams (I use 10, but I think more are possible), every group in the known universe and never a moment of server downtime. It's not the cheapest around but it's great if you're looking for a usenet binary fix of whatever variety floats your boat.
posted by The Bellman at 9:37 AM on July 25, 2006
posted by The Bellman at 9:37 AM on July 25, 2006
Usenet question.
[...]
posted by PenguinBukkake
I can see why you'd want a no-logs-kept provider...
I've used giganews, fwiw, and had no complaints.
posted by dersins at 9:49 AM on July 25, 2006 [1 favorite]
[...]
posted by PenguinBukkake
I can see why you'd want a no-logs-kept provider...
I've used giganews, fwiw, and had no complaints.
posted by dersins at 9:49 AM on July 25, 2006 [1 favorite]
Not TITANNews - I filter and report a lot of spam from them.
Seconding giganews.
posted by nathan_teske at 10:06 AM on July 25, 2006
Seconding giganews.
posted by nathan_teske at 10:06 AM on July 25, 2006
Third for giganews. Very high-speed connections and at least 3 month retention (even for the largest binary groups).
They also have an unlimited account for $25 a month that has no download limits.
posted by jsonic at 10:14 AM on July 25, 2006
They also have an unlimited account for $25 a month that has no download limits.
posted by jsonic at 10:14 AM on July 25, 2006
Hate to bash GigaNews, but I used to be with them and UsenetServer is just as reliable and fast. Retention isn't as good (UNS is about 40 days) but I think it's made up for by the fact that it's about half as expensive. ($40 for 3 months versus $25 for one)
I guess if you're looking for premium retention, Giganews can't be beat, but at least for me 40 days is usually enough to catch something I missed!
Both would suit you just fine, I guess it depends on what exactly you need it for.
posted by jckll at 11:07 AM on July 25, 2006
I guess if you're looking for premium retention, Giganews can't be beat, but at least for me 40 days is usually enough to catch something I missed!
Both would suit you just fine, I guess it depends on what exactly you need it for.
posted by jckll at 11:07 AM on July 25, 2006
easynews, for convenience, is hands-down the best ever premium usenet service.
awesome customer service (super super responsive), awesome HTTP interface (real convenient, considering most newsreaders i've used are pieces of shit), and awesome post search.
they don't offer unlimited accounts, which is a point of contention for some users judging by the surveys, but it's more than made up by the extra features they offer, IMHO.
i've been a member for six years -- still the best service of any kind I've ever had.
posted by fishfucker at 11:22 AM on July 25, 2006
awesome customer service (super super responsive), awesome HTTP interface (real convenient, considering most newsreaders i've used are pieces of shit), and awesome post search.
they don't offer unlimited accounts, which is a point of contention for some users judging by the surveys, but it's more than made up by the extra features they offer, IMHO.
i've been a member for six years -- still the best service of any kind I've ever had.
posted by fishfucker at 11:22 AM on July 25, 2006
Another vote here for Easynews. Excellent customer service. 10 gigs for 10 bucks a month, with rollover. I have about 160 GB saved up just since they implemented the policy last year. Love the HTML interface and the Zip Manager, and they're constantly improving things.
Also been using them for 6 years (maybe even 7 now) and I've never even considered cancelling to save the 10 bucks.
posted by Beautiful Downtown Burbank at 12:24 PM on July 25, 2006
Also been using them for 6 years (maybe even 7 now) and I've never even considered cancelling to save the 10 bucks.
posted by Beautiful Downtown Burbank at 12:24 PM on July 25, 2006
Plus Easynews gets props for being a Sourceforge mirror.
No one mentioned their erstwhile competition, Supernews, at all. They dead?
posted by baylink at 1:03 PM on July 25, 2006
No one mentioned their erstwhile competition, Supernews, at all. They dead?
posted by baylink at 1:03 PM on July 25, 2006
I've been using Astraweb for a while now - no complaints. Reasonable (imho) pricing, the retention is fine, and quite fast.
Anonymity - No logs are kept, Request for groups are anonymous, Anonymous Posting
posted by porpoise at 1:12 PM on July 25, 2006
Anonymity - No logs are kept, Request for groups are anonymous, Anonymous Posting
posted by porpoise at 1:12 PM on July 25, 2006
Easynews.
posted by Señor Pantalones at 1:59 PM on July 25, 2006
posted by Señor Pantalones at 1:59 PM on July 25, 2006
Best answer: Just checked, and easynews is now doing 20GB /month for $9.98, which makes it competitive on price even if you DON'T consider the added benefits of the web interface (also, easynews has gig rollover -- which I'm not sure is something offered by its competitors).
again, imho, the only reason not to go with them is if you want all you can eat USENET.
posted by fishfucker at 2:34 PM on July 25, 2006
again, imho, the only reason not to go with them is if you want all you can eat USENET.
posted by fishfucker at 2:34 PM on July 25, 2006
Sorry, Mr Bukkake but to piggyback: any good newsreader client recommendations? Mac or PC is fine
posted by blag at 2:44 PM on July 25, 2006
posted by blag at 2:44 PM on July 25, 2006
Best answer: blag - for the Mac, Unison or MT-Newswatcher. Unison is a great Mac program but is still building it's feature set. MT-Newswatcher is fairly powerful but not as easy or slick as Unison.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:18 PM on July 25, 2006 [1 favorite]
posted by nathan_teske at 3:18 PM on July 25, 2006 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Well. Thanks! I got a Easynews account. If I discover that I really need a all you can eat account, next month I'll cancel it & switch to Giganews. I'd mark almost all answers, thanks again (for the newsreader pointers, too)
!
posted by PenguinBukkake at 4:56 PM on July 25, 2006
!
posted by PenguinBukkake at 4:56 PM on July 25, 2006
Best answer: Here's a list of providers, BTW; the top 5 have already been mentioned and they are indeed about the best.
Also, we have a list of clients. Remember you can also use most of the open source clients in MacOS X; both the server side ones and the Linux/Unix clients.
posted by Freaky at 7:24 PM on July 25, 2006
Also, we have a list of clients. Remember you can also use most of the open source clients in MacOS X; both the server side ones and the Linux/Unix clients.
posted by Freaky at 7:24 PM on July 25, 2006
any good newsreader client recommendations?
MacSOUP is excellent.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:41 PM on July 25, 2006
MacSOUP is excellent.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:41 PM on July 25, 2006
Best answer: some easynews web interface tips:
ZipManager is great for managing large parts -- simply check them off in the listing and choose "Zip to next empty" or whatever -- the max you can put in a single queue is something like 1.5 gigs.
You'll want a download manager to maximize your speed. I prefer FlashGet. I can't speak for any of the others out there. FlashGet is one of the first things I install on my computer (you need to set up your easynews username and password in there in order for it to dl from easynews properly -- test it out first before trying to dl a gig or so -- once the data leaves the ez servers, they charge you for it, whether you get it or not)
Since you just started, make sure you do the survey (www.easynews.com/survey) every week -- you get an extra half gig for filling it out, and it only takes a moment.
Easynews recently added the greatest thing -- Auto-unrar -- it unzips all the parts for you and allows you to dl the file directly. HOWEVER, if the rar set contained more than one file, it only shows the first. This is usually best for video files -- if you don't see an auto-unrar, the par-viewer is your friend (this brings up a list of all the files, par files, and auto-unrar files in a set).
the beta indexes sorta suck right now but they're getting better.
search is at http://members.easynews.com/global4/search.html -- it's sorta hard to find, if I recall correctly.
welcome to easynews.
posted by fishfucker at 10:41 AM on July 26, 2006
ZipManager is great for managing large parts -- simply check them off in the listing and choose "Zip to next empty" or whatever -- the max you can put in a single queue is something like 1.5 gigs.
You'll want a download manager to maximize your speed. I prefer FlashGet. I can't speak for any of the others out there. FlashGet is one of the first things I install on my computer (you need to set up your easynews username and password in there in order for it to dl from easynews properly -- test it out first before trying to dl a gig or so -- once the data leaves the ez servers, they charge you for it, whether you get it or not)
Since you just started, make sure you do the survey (www.easynews.com/survey) every week -- you get an extra half gig for filling it out, and it only takes a moment.
Easynews recently added the greatest thing -- Auto-unrar -- it unzips all the parts for you and allows you to dl the file directly. HOWEVER, if the rar set contained more than one file, it only shows the first. This is usually best for video files -- if you don't see an auto-unrar, the par-viewer is your friend (this brings up a list of all the files, par files, and auto-unrar files in a set).
the beta indexes sorta suck right now but they're getting better.
search is at http://members.easynews.com/global4/search.html -- it's sorta hard to find, if I recall correctly.
welcome to easynews.
posted by fishfucker at 10:41 AM on July 26, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by geoff. at 9:17 AM on July 25, 2006 [1 favorite]