"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2012-05-20, Andy Bartlett wrote:

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
On 20/05/2012 11:31, Robin wrote:
Alternatively splash out a fiver a month and get yourself an all you
can eat Usenet account.

http://www.newsdemon.com/

... other usenet providers are available.

While I agree Usenet binaries are a good way to go I see no need for
Adam to spend that money if he only or mainly wants current TV shows.
VM provide free and unlimited access to Usenet - including binary
groups
with a retention of 1 to 2 weeks. And if he wants just the occasional
older episode he could always use "premium" service just as a back-up
on
a PAYG basis.

And while torrents are probably the easiest way to get such things, I
don't doubt that Adam could cope with eg Binsearch and an NZB grabber
(eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrabIt)

Is there any *benefit* of usenet binaries over bittorrents, though?


1) - speed - you download at your full line rate.

I see the idea of binary - ASCII conversion has passed you by.


I agree it is not perfect in terms of bandwidth utilisation but that is what
we are stuck with until something else comes along -
have you ever heard of Yenc encoding? Compared with the other overheads of
TCP/IP it actually makes little difference anyway.





2) - you are not sharing files - only downloading - so are not (legally)
infringing copyright - the usenet provider is the infringer.

Yeah, right. Good luck using that one in court.



Safer than p2p where the punter is the infringer.




3) - most usenet providers have provision for a secure connection - what
you
download is between you and the provider. Your isp and any other snoopers
remain none the wiser.

Like that makes any difference when the writ flops through the letterbox
at the Usenet provider.




Not likely to happen before p2p dies and is totally outlawed. Usenet
subscribers pay for a service and this is the closest model yet for the
future of distributing media entertainment.





4) - pretty much anything is available on bittorrent is available via
usenet - probably more.

apart from that, no.

Err, apart from that, yes. You copyright thieves are ****ing usenet for
the
people who want to use it for what it was designed for. There's a good
reason most ISPs have dropped Usenet news as a service, and part of it
is bandwidth sucking copyright thieves.

I can see you live in the dark ages as far a media distribution is
concerned.