This article is going to list some of the best Usenet search engines that are freely available. The Usenet is considered by many a dark side of the Internet, something that those who know do not talk about and those who do not know don’t want to know about because it seems utterly complicated to begin with.
The real benefits of the Usenet in my opinion are speed, if you have a good provider that is, reliability and better privacy, because of SSL and no direct user to user connections. On the downside we have the monthly fee, a Usenet client that has to be installed and configured and some time to subscribe to the right groups.
Usenet Search Engines help users find files faster. Most support the nzb protocol which combines all file information in one file that can be loaded into most Usenet clients. Good search engines should support advanced parameters, 200 day records, nzb creation and index most groups, at least the thousand+ important ones.
If you want to try the Usenet you could signup for a free 14 day trial at Giganews, the Usenet provider that I use for several years.
1. Newzleech
I have discovered Newsleech only recently but have to admit that it provides one of the best Usenet search engines. It provides users with a general search, an option to browse groups, to browse posts and to subscribe to RSS feeds to be informed when a new post matching the criteria is made.
Search results can be filtered by group, post age and size. The results are displayed in a list showing the most important information such as name, size, group, age and completion status. NZBs are created on the fly by checking at least one search result.
Binsearch offers basically the same features that Newsleech does. You can make a general search, search only specific groups and define post age, size and several other parameters. Results can be checked and a NZB file will be created in the process which can then be imported in the Newsreader.
3. Yabsearch.nl
A Dutch search engine with no English interface. Supports NZB creation and advanced search parameters. Displays size, name and completion status in the results.
Most information on those search engines is redundant meaning that all seem to index new posts fast enough and tend to display the same information in their search results. It’s still good to have some outs in case one of them goes down.
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22 Responses to “The best Usenet Search Engines”
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[...] about joining a Usenet provider. That’s understandable. A good start is to take a look at our Usenet Search article which contains links to several Usenet Search Engines. They can be used just like any other [...]
giganews link bad :)
http://www.nzbindex.nl/
http://www.binsearch.info/
You’ve let out the secrets of newgroups. Now the Illuminatis will have to kill you ;)
Seriously though, I’m one of those who’d rather not tell anybody not in the know about the Usenet. Don’t want it to start popping up on populist’s radars.
But one word of caution: Virus Scan Virus Scan Virus Scan. Lots of virus out in the Usenet. Especially those free “cracked” versions of newzleech that you see posted every week on the newsgroups.
Newzbin is a founder of nzb files. Also best usenet search engine. One minus: paid
http://newzbin.com
or
http://v3.newzbin.com
I always use binsearch.info unless its a sunday night/monday morning when they’re doing maintenance; I switch to newzleech just because its the only other one I remember ;x
You might also check out http://www.bindexer.com/ It doesn’t host .nfo files (I don’t think), but it’s got a nice interface and a really good search setup.
@vao: The other downside of newzbin is that new registrations are closed. You’ll have to find a current member to send an invite. And then once you’re in, yes, it’s paid.
http://www.nzbmatrix.com is also a good one.
http://www.newzbox.com
New free Usenet binary search tool with NFO search capability, auto-searches, alerts and RSS feeds.
http://www.usenetlive.com
I would suggest nzbfiles I have found files on there not on Binsearch or Newzleech …
http://www.nzbfiles.org/faq.php
I found it was the only one to pick up the Dr Who newsgroup when I needed individual parts. Although Binsearch does access a.b.DrWho.
This must be the lamest article ever on “the best Usenet Search Engines”. 3 results?! This must’ve been whole lotta work to get this out – 1/2 hour work at best. Thanks for trying – the user-comments are better than any info.
And now this is now “awaiting moderation”?! – way to go lamers – there’s no hyperlinks here, what’s the holdup?
It is probably in moderation because of your exquisite manners. I’m sorry that this article did not meet your expectations.
Why do you need more search engines on the other hand than those three mentioned?
Martin, your binsearch.info link is still bad :]
And you should add http://nzbmatrix.com/ to the list. nzbmatrix, newzleech, and binsearch are the only three I’ve been using lately
here is some shameless self promotion, http://gonzb.com along with http://tv.gonzb.com and http://music.gonzb.com amongst other ways to try and find good stuff from the massive amount of spam that usually enter the binaries.
You left out http://www.bintube.com form your list. I use it most because it has better results (better grouping) and their usenet client is great.
Binsearch appears to be censoring its results, no doubt to appease the MPAA.
Try comparing its results with, say, newzleech.
In my eyes, Binabled is the best: http://www.binabled.com
Not to mention http://newzbin.com is now run by the cops because of all of the child porn they do there.
@Dante and on the subject of “not telling/discussing usenet/binaries in public so as to prevent a flood of retards from ruining a good thing”
I agree. And although I may be a newcommer to this specific scene (2 years giganews subscriber), I refrain from shouting to the world and expounding how my life changed when I found binary usenet.
the thing is that the people we must fear learning about binaries and leading to closer scrutiny, regulation, dismantling/destruction, etc…..
these people are the bottom of the barrel tech idiots. these are the people who were dumbfounded by computers, afraid of using microsoft word and literally terrified of excell…
UNTIL AIM, then sites like myspace
these are the people who genuinely think that a black background IRC client is the sign of a hacker (ever notice how they used to show brief glimpses of IRC as filler in those Fox news hacking reports in the 1990s and early 00s?)
most of these people are barely able to figure out how to use limewire and emule, and to them Bittorrent is almost impossible to understand.
then there are the kids, aged 14-18, who have grown up with computers and are more tech literate.
even the MOST “tech literate” of them are nothing but skiddies, who download skiddy app packs and use them to hack their friends and school’s computers using OTHER PEOPLE’s work.
these kids have no ability to access good usenet. they dont have credit cards, and even if they could use their parents, they would never be able to convince them to PAY to download stuff.
so they are confined to the trash supplied by their ISP (inevitabley comcast, cox or verizon, and nearly always worthless, devoid of copyrighted material due to DMCA takedowns, if any binary content at all
thus they see usenet and think it worthless and instead devote their time to bittorrent and rapidshare.
the end result is that usenet is already such an obscure, under used, OLD (not a BBS, but nearly) system that most people cannot be bothered to learn how to use it, set it up, and make it work efficiently.
so dont be afraid of talking about it……. just dont give a tutorial explaining why it literally owns bittorrent for all but the most obscure stuff.
if all else fails, exaggerate its difficulty.
I found binsearch.info to be full of mp3 that want to install as applications :(.. newzleech has always provide me with the best results…
@monglo….
c’mon……usenet is not widely used because of £$$£$£.
WHY PAY ?
Most people download TV shows. ( usually released within the last few weeks )
Torrent sites can give you full speeds. ON POPULAR files. ( not just usenet servers)
Rapidshare , megaupload ect… has HOW many days retention for premium users ? ? ? ? ? (compared to usenet )
Torrents , emule , FileHosters & usenet are all different . All have good and bad points.
AS for the opinion that usenet is the best for everything…. bull…… try getting half of the stuff on usenet that you can find on private tv torrent sites with their own capping teams.