Usenet vs. Torrents

[Numbers]

Which is better?

I know torrents are free, but I'm really getting sick of the download speeds and never finding what I'm looking for. And that's even with demonoid (never managed to get invites to bit.me or what.cd).

But torrents are so prevalent. If I can't find something as a torrent, what are the chances it would exist on Usenet?

Example. Let's say I want to download an audio book or an ebook. It's not on any of the torrent sites. What are the chances it will even be on Usenet? Same goes for textbooks for school and whatnot.

When it comes to popular movies or TV shows, torrent sites seem to be good enough. They're usually seeded well enough that I can download a full movie in an hour. Same goes for most popular games. It's the obscure stuff I'm curious about.

I know there's a few Usenet users here. What are your honest opinions?

[Warriorbird]

It's good if you take the time to work at it.

[Rinualdo]

Have your port forwarding configured correctly?

[pabstblueribbon]

Have your port forwarding configured correctly?

If you need help with this you could ask TheE.

[Ryvicke]

Get onto what.cd using the only method available to non-invitees (it'll take a night of studying some stuff). Google if you need to know what that is, or PM me. From what.cd spend a little time to make Power-User, shouldn't take more than a month or so. From there you can use the Power User forums to get invites onto any other private tracker there is. There is nothing these sites don't have.

I have heard good things about usenet, I've never checked it out though.

[Drew]

Get onto what.cd using the only method available to non-invitees (it'll take a night of studying some stuff). Google if you need to know what that is, or PM me. From what.cd spend a little time to make Power-User, shouldn't take more than a month or so. From there you can use the Power User forums to get invites onto any other private tracker there is. There is nothing these sites don't have.

I have heard good things about usenet, I've never checked it out though.

That sounds like a lot of work.


For usenet, basically anything that has been uploaded in the past 3 years is available (depending on your providers retain days, usually 600 or 900 days), even if it was only downloaded once. No one has to keep it up and share it. Usenet has a lot of obscure stuff and you'll always be able to download it at full speed. The downside is that you have to pay for a connection.