ghacks Technology News

Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: Newsbin Pro

Today is the second day of the Ghacks Christmas Giveaway and I’m really excited about the event so far. The Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 offer received hundreds of comments and the lucky winners will be notified today. Please make sure to spread the word about the event so that it will be a success for everyone.

Today’s giveaway is one of the few software products that I have bought. I usually rely on free software but this one is in my opinion the best of its kind. Newsbin Pro is a binary newsreader. It handles downloads from the Usenet. I really do not want to get into details about the Usenet in this thread, only this much: You do need access to a Usenet server to work with Newsbin Pro. One reliable (and many say the best) Usenet provider is Giganews which I use for several years as well.

The Newsbin Pro client has been developed over years and several useful features have been added to it. But first things first. If you start the Usenet client for the first time you have to add a Usenet server and some groups of that server to the client. The useful options begin right at this stage by providing SSL support, slave and fill servers and header compression. The maximum amount of connections can be configured during server setup as well.

Groups can be added in the Groups > Add Groups menu. The client will download all groups available on the server and provides filters to find the desired groups easily.

The interface can be customized beyond what is usually possible. All window elements can be positioned for maximum screen estate. Newsbin Pro uses tabs to display the additional data. The bottom window can for instance contain the download queue, downloaded files, failed files, status, thumbnails (if you are downloading images) and more. That’s very efficient because everything is accessible in the main interface.

Newsbin Pro provides access to several features that reduce the work of the user. It includes for example automatic rar and par processing, split-file processing, automatic header updates, extensive options to sort downloads into folders, support of mp3 id3v2 tags, an image viewer and download prioritization.

It obviously supports the common features of Usenet clients like nzb integration, speed limits, extensive filters and ban options.

Support is fast and good. I did encounter problems after moving from one computer to another but they were quickly solved by the support team and the crowded forum. Linux users will be happy to know that the forum has a Linux section as the client is apparently running fine under Wine. Windows users with 32-bit or 64-bit editions of 2000, XP or Vista will also be able to run the software.

Five licenses for Newsbin Pro are up for grabs. All you need to do is reply in the comments. It would be nice if you would mention your current Usenet provider and client that you are using and what you think of them.

Update: The guys at Giganews spotted the post and are sponsoring five one month Diamond accounts. These accounts will be given to five additional users who commented on the thread.. Please note that you need to signup at Giganews and mail me their Giganews username which I pass on to make sure that they do not pay for the first month (there is no obligation to after that month). You should also note that you need to be at least 18 years of age to signup for the account.

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Related Articles:

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Tuesday December 2, 2008 -
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Responses so far:

  1. Frances Heaton says:

    Kapersky sounds like brilliant software. Usually use Avast free download but Kapersky sounds great.

  2. garbanzo says:

    with rapidshare continually changing their rules and getting worse every day, i’ve been considering looking into moving to usenet for my binary needs. if this is the reader Martin recommends, then it’s the reader i’ll try first :)

  3. Kim Allen says:

    From the sounds of this, if you picked me, I’d get peace from the OH as he loves this sort of thing!

  4. Nazgul says:

    Eset smart security sounds like a good software.. and ppl will be happy to contribute if they find software up for grab which they will use all the time! :)

  5. I hope that I don’t win! Knode (The KDE newsreader) is known as the best newsreader available for any platform, and it’s free!

    I cannot believe that people are still paying for a newsreader in 2008! That’s like paying for a web browser, for those of us who remember when Opera and Netscape were “products”.

  6. Johan Gustavsson says:

    Hey man, I want a License for newsbin pro…

  7. Viltran says:

    I would love to try Newsbin, I have been using agent for many years and have never ventured out and tried anything else, I use Giganews as my server (btw is the best paid server). I guess the main reason I have never tried anything else is cause, Free agent works, it’s been around for years and basically I’m Lazy :)
    it’d be nice to try out something else

  8. Bernard says:

    Hi Martin!

    Hmmm … interested by nbpro, my xnews doesn’t do ssl … Need ssl for testing others fsi than my sh*t proxad.net/free.fr (not free at all) with all censored groups.

  9. Abbie Poole says:

    To be perfectly honest I don’t have a clue what it all means, but I get the gist of it. But I’m entering for one of my boys (I have 4) who is computer mad and will know all about this :) Sounds right up his street.

  10. Adam says:

    I haven’t started using usenet yet, haven’t gotten around to signing up. But this would be a great catalyst to get me off my butt! :)

  11. callousedlabia says:

    I would like to try it. I am using newsleecher and nzb drop

  12. Katy H says:

    Not using Usenet yet (mainly due to laziness), this might give me a kick to get round to it! Nice prize!

  13. Jon says:

    I currently use Grabit and Giganews. I am not willing to give up giganews but would like to try Newsbin…

  14. barney_gl says:

    That would probably make a pleasant change from Info Select.

  15. iamzeroth says:

    This Time It’s Diffrent

  16. MrD666 says:

    I personally use Grabit! and swear to it, its FREE and the developer Ilan Shemes is a really cool and nice cat.

  17. Sebfrogs says:

    Great soft ,
    will really do change from Info Select. I am agree with you barney_gl

  18. IanG says:

    All your bins belong to us…

  19. Miles says:

    I use news.east.cox.net for my newsgroup server

  20. Scoland says:

    Never heard of it, wondering what tomorrow’s award would be.

  21. hal9000 says:

    i use newsbin pro already and unison on the mac.
    unison is better in my opinion.
    also i use a paid giganews account

  22. David says:

    Well this is an unexpected prize. Looks pretty sweet though!

  23. cr7 says:

    well. I want to try my lucky again.

  24. junior1zero says:

    Sounds good…

  25. trish says:

    I would like to try it

  26. deaddogsmoking says:

    Back again – ever hopeful!

  27. Adam Dempseyd says:

    Great contest Martin! Good luck to the winners!

  28. Smaga says:

    Would propably be worth a try :>

  29. Willi says:

    Actually none, but I know newsbin – it’s really the best newsreader.

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