Giganews announces 240-day binary newsgroup retention

Giganews announces 240-day binary newsgroup retention
Giganews has announced plans to increase its current 200 day retention for binary newsgroups to 240 days by the end of the year. Only last year, Giganews broke the retention record by offering 200 days binary retention while maintaining excellent completion and of course, top speed downloads with up to 20-concurrent connections, based on what plan you have with the service.

Some of the most active binary newsgroups receive huge amounts of new data on a daily basis, and so retention (how long posts will remain on the servers) is a vital detail to take into account when shopping for a newsgroup provider. Giganews currently offers over 1,700 days retention for text newsgroups additionally.



Along with providing unlimited, uncensored access to all binary groups, Giganews has a decent price line-up, with an unlimited plan that costs $24.99 per month. An additional $5 will get you SSL encryption and boost your max number of concurrent connections to 20. This package is available as a Diamond account for an introductory price of $19.99 for the first month.

"Giganews prides itself on delivering the premium Usenet services our members expect. We enjoy implementing features that improve our members’ experience and we are excited about offering 240 days of retention across binary newsgroups," commented David Vogelpohl, Vice President of Marketing at Giganews.

The storage infrastructure needed for this retention upgrade has been ordered and Giganews expects to have the upgrade complete during September 2008. After the storage infrastructure is in place, retention will grow from 200 days to 240 days. The service also now accepts PayPal and offers custom usernames to its customers.

See: Giganews.com
See: How to download files from Usenet Newsgroups

Written by: James Delahunty @ 11 Jul 2008 18:26
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  • 25 comments

  • NexGen76

    How is this compared to torrent downloads anyone? Better,worst, or the Same far as service & output.

    11.7.2008 19:42 #1

  • grkblood

    ok, i use newsgroups but am not that familiar about the retention thing. I was under the assumption that the retention period only applied to the uploader. Say I uploaded a file to their server,it would then stay there for 240 days. Me being a usenetserver member, I believe they off 100 day retention. I pay a lot less for unlimited btw. So what is stopping me from downloadinga giganews file after a 100 days. Am I correct about this? If I am why would the period that your file stays available a factor when picking which server to use. Isn't the ultimate factor really the cost? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

    11.7.2008 20:29 #2

  • grkblood

    @Nex

    Put it this way. Whatever your cap is set by your internet provider; that's how fast you will download. Go do a speed test, that is the download speed when using newsgroups, lol. Also, its untracable. Atleast past the server it is.

    11.7.2008 20:33 #3

  • ivymike

    Usenet is actually better than torrents because new releases usually are distributed via Usenet before they are made into torrents.

    11.7.2008 20:41 #4

  • geestar20

    Quote:Usenet is actually better than torrents because new releases usually are distributed via Usenet before they are made into torrents. I see files hit torrents before they are posted at nzb sites. Or am i wrong?

    11.7.2008 21:07 #5

  • domie

    Originally posted by grkblood: ok, i use newsgroups but am not that familiar about the retention thing. I was under the assumption that the retention period only applied to the uploader.No, it has nothing to do with the uploader - once the uploader has uploaded the file to the server , his job is finished.

    The retention limit refers to how many days a file is available to download from the server you connect to with your subscription. If you have a 100 day retention limit then the file will be eliminated from the host server after 100 days to make room for newer files etc and you will not be able to complete it.

    Most free newsgroup services via your ISP have a retention of anything from 24 hours to 7 days, those you pay subscriptions for have higher retention.

    If you have an umlimited account like you say, it does not refer to the retention on the server, it refers to the amount of data you can download. It will still not allow you to download a file that was uploaded 101 days ago if you have a 100 day retention limit.

    This new move by Giganews means that files will now stay online for about 8 months after posting.

    As for how good it is - well put it this way - you download direct from a server at mximum speed dictated by your own bandwidth - there is no sharing like bit torrent so you are not dependent on swarms etc - no uploading is needed. The download can be encrypted if you pay for a premium service making it much safer than Bit Torrent and obviously with no upload, there is no list of seeders/ leechers made available for public viewing.

    In a nutshell - it's ten times better, safer and quicker than bt but it is not free - you can expect to pay between $ 10-30 depending on how good a service youwant.

    11.7.2008 21:12 #6

  • domie

    Quote:Quote:Usenet is actually better than torrents because new releases usually are distributed via Usenet before they are made into torrents. I see files hit torrents before they are posted at nzb sites. Or am i wrong?you are probably right but remember that when the file is posted on nzb it has already been circulating on usenet for quite a while, sometimes weeks before an nzb editor decides to post it on their site.all that nzb does is index the files that are already circulating and making theme asier to download than the raw usenet method. very few files are released on nzb type sites - they are posted directly to newsgroups in raw usenet format long before nzb sites notice them.

    11.7.2008 21:14 #7

  • NexGen76

    @ Everyone


    Okay thanks if its faster,safe,& post new stuff first then this Newsgroup stuff is for me then.I don't mind paying if im getting my money worth.What are some good Newsgroups to join & I live in the U.S. can i still get it?



    Update:According to an announcement from Time Warner, On June 23, Time Warner will no longer provide Usenet services to cable modem subscribers.


    Damm i can't get it is there away around this?

    11.7.2008 21:52 #8

  • ivymike

    Giganews is one.
    Newshosting is another.

    Use programs like GrabIt or BNR2 to D/L.

    Then look for groups such as alt.binaries.dvd

    11.7.2008 21:59 #9

  • SProdigy

    Originally posted by NexGen76: @ Everyone


    Okay thanks if its faster,safe,& post new stuff first then this Newsgroup stuff is for me then.I don't mind paying if im getting my money worth.What are some good Newsgroups to join & I live in the U.S. can i still get it?



    Update:According to an announcement from Time Warner, On June 23, Time Warner will no longer provide Usenet services to cable modem subscribers.


    Damm i can't get it is there away around this?    It just means Time Warner got rid of their "own" service. They are not blocking access to others. I can verify this since I have 15mbps RR here.

    UseNetServer is another decent one to try out, but retention is typically 100 days.

    11.7.2008 22:13 #10

  • NexGen76

    Quote:Originally posted by NexGen76: @ Everyone


    Okay thanks if its faster,safe,& post new stuff first then this Newsgroup stuff is for me then.I don't mind paying if im getting my money worth.What are some good Newsgroups to join & I live in the U.S. can i still get it?



    Update:According to an announcement from Time Warner, On June 23, Time Warner will no longer provide Usenet services to cable modem subscribers.


    Damm i can't get it is there away around this?    It just means Time Warner got rid of their "own" service. They are not blocking access to others. I can verify this since I have 15mbps RR here.

    UseNetServer is another decent one to try out, but retention is typically 100 days.

    Okay thanks where can i learn more about this stuff sound like i mite drop torrents for good.Is it true that Newsgroups get the new releases before Torrents do?

    11.7.2008 22:20 #11

  • grkblood

    i use usenetserver. goto usenetserver.com. 100 day retention is good for me. youll get what you need, trust me. i pay like $10 a month i think. I wanna say for 3 months its like 35 bucks. i just renew every 3 months when i get the unable to connect message from newsleecher.

    @domie

    you mean after 100 days it will be erased from the client server right? If the host server is giganews then that files will stay on that server for 240 days. once it comes to my server "client" it gets dropped right? its weird calling a server a client but I dont really know anyone other way to put it.

    11.7.2008 22:33 #12

  • grkblood

    double post

    11.7.2008 22:35 #13

  • SProdigy

    @NexGen

    http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/..._newsgroups.cfm

    Newsgroups are a bit more involved, because you are downloading several headers and then rejoining them to make a "complete" file. Sign up for an account (even a trial to check it out.) The extra time and effort still pales in comparison to waiting days for torrent d/l's.

    I recommend newsLeecher as far as a news reading program. You will also need WinRar to extract the contents of the posts. 7-Zip is a great alternative to WinRar, and needed for some posts, plus it's free. QuickPar, also freeware, can fix corrupted files, which happen every so often either on the upload or download end.

    I think most of the big items are covered in the tutorial, the rest I posted are personal preferences. I also recommend shopping around, as there are better deals regarding retention, and download/bandwidth limits.

    11.7.2008 23:35 #14

  • domie

    Originally posted by grkblood:

    @domie

    you mean after 100 days it will be erased from the client server right? If the host server is giganews then that files will stay on that server for 240 days. once it comes to my server "client" it gets dropped right? its weird calling a server a client but I dont really know anyone other way to put it.    it's called a host server - but yeah - you are right about the retention point.it's really simple - if your retention value is 133 days, then it gets dropped after 133 days etc etc

    for all those who want more info about Newsgroups etc....
    For an introduction look here
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgroups

    For a complete A-Z read all the links on this page
    http://www.how-to-usenet.com/index.html

    News service began before the internet existed but has recently returned as it is so fast and so secure as you download all files from servers located all over the world - there is no sharing involved so upload is not used and usually the connection is 100% of your internet line speed so you get files faster than ever before - it's like downloading an update from Microsoft.
    Basically all news files are binary files which are then converted into video, music etc once downloaded.
    You need the following software installed....

    1) a news server program
    grabit or newsleecher (grabit is free newsleecher is not but easier)
    grabit - http://www.shemes.com/
    www.newsleecher.com

    2) winrar to decompress articles

    3) quickpar 0.91 to repair any damaged files (free)
    http://www.quickpar.org.uk/

    all ISPs have a news server facility but you generally find that as they are free they have poor retention ( this means they only hold all the files for a day or two before deleting them - meaning you can't download anything that isn't brand new.

    official news servers have longer retention and can be up to 200 days retention. this is where the money part comes in - if you want to use the service it isn't free but they keep aqll files of all groups for such a long time that it is worth it.

    I use giganews because they offer an encrypted service but that can cost about $ 30 a month - there are cheaper alternatives but they aren't encrypted but still relatively safe.
    http://www.giganews.com/
    http://www.newshosting.com/en/index.php

    Finally you need to join a website that has an index of all or most files on the web - the best is
    www.newzbin.com
    but that isn't free either although it only costs about $ 2 a month to join and subscribe.You'll be amazed at how much stuff is out there in all the usual download categories.There are other free sites but not as complete.

    so what you basically need to do is...
    1) install newsleecher or grabit
    2) install quick par 0.91
    3) install winrar
    4) subscribe to a news server (giganews etc ) and then start the newsgroup client program ( grabit or newsleecher or other ) and configure the server details , port and userbame and password that they will send you in an email from your news server.
    5) make sure you also check all the options to make sure you are downloading files into specific folders and group folders etc or everything will be in one big folder and if you are a big leecher that is bad news.
    6) now you can go to a news site like newzbin.com and look at their goodies - all files are listed in groups and clicking on the name will take you to an individual file's page where you can download the NZB file etc to activate the download in your client program.
    7) once downloaded, files are decompressed/reorganised etc either in winrar files or other part files - always click on the PAR files to make sure the download is verified - if it is corrupted this will also repair any damaged parts.

    The advantages are

    1) it's faster than any p2p program ever invented
    2) the number of files now being posted is massive
    3) the service can be encrypted
    4) there is no sharing so no authority snooping on your IP.

    The disadvantages are

    1) It's not free - it can cost anywhere between $ 15 -30 a month for everything.
    2) It can be difficult to understand at first. Always search for help or guides if you have problems.

    12.7.2008 04:47 #15

  • iluvendo

    With all this downloading, does anyone hear the word "Throttling"?

    If it wasnt for bad luck, Id have no luck!
    "The flimsier the product,the higher the price"
    Ferengi 82nd rule of aquisition

    12.7.2008 06:12 #16

  • Xian

    This also coincides with some of the top US ISPs dropping Usenet newsgroups recently. AT&T just dropped the entire alt.binary hierarchy yesterday. Time Warner/AOL dropped Usenet entirely on June 23rd, even the discussion forums, not just the binary groups. Comcast dropped Usenet access years ago. I bet Giganews and the other pay providers are getting a boost since the people that were using their ISP's service for free do not have that option any more.

    12.7.2008 07:36 #17

  • grkblood

    @Xian

    I seriously doubt they are getting a boost in customers. Most people, not all, but probably 99.99% of usenet users wouldnt use the free ISP service anyways. THe bandwidth limit they set is WAYYYY to low for the regular usenet user. I think comcast' used to be like 1 Gig a month or some crazy number.

    12.7.2008 12:12 #18

  • SProdigy

    Originally posted by iluvendo: With all this downloading, does anyone hear the word "Throttling"?Not only that, but I can notice specific times during the day where my network is bogged down and I get half of the down speed I paid for. That angers me just as much.

    12.7.2008 12:48 #19

  • jetyi83

    newsgroups are definitely better than torrents, but they also have their limitations. torrents have a wider library because there is no retention, but speeds are slower and less reliable.

    giganews is supposedly the best one, but also it pretty pricey. The next best choice would be usenetserver which is basically the same, but retention is only 101 days compared to the 240. much much cheaper though.

    12.7.2008 15:16 #20

  • jetyi83

    btw, i had been using newzbin.com for years, but never became a member, does anyone on here have a membership that could invite me?

    email at jetyi83@yahoo.com.

    12.7.2008 15:16 #21

  • jonny-x

    I don't like advertising services but for those who don't want to pay monthly subscriptions (just because it ain't worth it) then some news services do block accounts that don't expire.

    Personally I use usenet-news.net. I probably get through 10gb a month through usenet alone, so not much really, and I buy 100gb block accounts which don't expire so I can use it when i want. SSL is included, and 100+ day retention which is fine for most IMO.

    Also, their refer-a-friend scheme kicks ass. The referrer gets the same amount as the referral buys which is pretty awesome really...

    Sorry for the 'advertising' if you will but thought this may be of interest to those who don't want monthly subscriptions and still want decent usenet access :)

    12.7.2008 19:35 #22

  • grkblood

    what is newzbin.com?

    12.7.2008 20:13 #23

  • jetyi83

    database for all updated nzb's and nfo's. Basically a library like mininova or piratebay something like that, except you dont download off of their site, it is for research only.

    it only has a 10 day retention, but it has all the new media updated very quickly. They are the original creators of the nzb file

    13.7.2008 00:01 #24

  • nsparks63

    Originally posted by ivymike: Giganews is one.
    Newshosting is another.

    Use programs like GrabIt or BNR2 to D/L.

    Then look for groups such as alt.binaries.dvd    UseNetVault.com is another one which offers a lot for the money:

    Unlimited access:
    - $14.55/mo.

    Metered accounts:
    - 20 GB/mo. - $9.55/mo.
    - 10 GB/mo. - $6.55/mo.
    - 5 GB/mo. - $4.55

    Free trial - UseNet Vault is currently offering a 10 GB, 7 day free trial.


    The fact that they include 20 connections and SSL with all plans makes them a great value.

    Knowing that you have access to 24/7 support for help with setup questions or technical issues is icing on the cake.

    And a high paying exciting affiliate program, which allows you to see your stats in real time.

    UseNetVault not only pays for your signups but also compensates you for your Click thru traffic allowing you to make money several ways.

    http://usenetvault.com/affiliate/affiliate/

    10.8.2008 00:51 #25

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