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.
Related posts:
- Alt.Binz Usenet Client
- Christmas Giveaway Giganews Accounts
- Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: MediaMonkey Gold
- Giganews Usenet Trials
- Giganews Accelerator Beta
- Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: Display Fusion Pro
- Giganews Upgrades Retention once again
- Pan Newsreader
Kapersky sounds like brilliant software. Usually use Avast free download but Kapersky sounds great.
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 :)
From the sounds of this, if you picked me, I’d get peace from the OH as he loves this sort of thing!
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! :)
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”.
Hey man, I want a License for newsbin pro…
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
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.
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.
Thats nice.
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! :)
I would like to try it. I am using newsleecher and nzb drop
Not using Usenet yet (mainly due to laziness), this might give me a kick to get round to it! Nice prize!
I currently use Grabit and Giganews. I am not willing to give up giganews but would like to try Newsbin…
That would probably make a pleasant change from Info Select.
This Time It’s Diffrent
I personally use Grabit! and swear to it, its FREE and the developer Ilan Shemes is a really cool and nice cat.
Great soft ,
will really do change from Info Select. I am agree with you barney_gl
All your bins belong to us…
I use news.east.cox.net for my newsgroup server
Never heard of it, wondering what tomorrow’s award would be.
i use newsbin pro already and unison on the mac.
unison is better in my opinion.
also i use a paid giganews account
Well this is an unexpected prize. Looks pretty sweet though!
well. I want to try my lucky again.
Sounds good…
I would like to try it
Back again – ever hopeful!
Great contest Martin! Good luck to the winners!
Would propably be worth a try :>
Actually none, but I know newsbin – it’s really the best newsreader.
Cool I won the last one, so there is no chance on winning this one as well, but to help with the market research Martin wants.
I have been using Newsleecher since well forever and the only reason I use that is becuase it was the first thing I came across so I really do not know of any other app.
davayte kasperskogo!
Is this a little like RSS feeds? I subscribe to RSS feeds, but I don’t have a client.
No, not like RSS feeds. Usenet was around before the web and contains over one hundred thousand discussion groups. Thousands of these groups have files available for download and NewsBin helps you find and download these files.
I’ve already got a key, Martin, give mine to someone else if I happen to get picked. ;)
Hmm… I’m still reading (like I have been doing for _years_) my news with slrn but… maybe this one is worth of trying if I’ll win this one… downloading binaries from news isn’t what I do typically but … you’ll never know…
I also use giganews but I use alt.bin as my client. Always wanted to try newsleecher…
No this isn’t a desktop RSS client.
Currently using Grabit with my Comcast account
have been using newsbin for years; downloaded terabytes with it. great built in rar decoder; auto-pulls extra pars when needed to rebuild. tracks groups well; good management tools. excellent database and dupe mananagment detector. recovers well from computer freezes.
have been downloading since unix ftp and then dos BB days; newsbin is the current king.
Nice, I love your giveaway christmas (I hope that I will win :D )
Nice, I hope I get it.
Ray
Always good news, i hope i win a license too.
Heres hopin that it’s good news week
I’m a longtime (10+ years) NewsBin user. Love it. I would like to give a license away for the holidays so PICK ME, please.
I’m also a giganews subscriber. Pleased with their service but the STAR here is NewsBin.
A functional, fast usenet binaries client.
The support forums are monitored by the developer’s and every inquiry is responded to timely.
If you don’t win the giveaway, think about buying a license just the same.
(Who the hell am I), but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Hmm, a free license? Well, if you’re giving them away, I’ll take one, but otherwise I’ll stick to PAN for Linux.
My Usenet provider is Sasktel which I believe they use a usenet company located in California but for some reason I can’t think of the company name at the moment. Sasktel is reliable and stable with presently no restrictions other than download speed is limited. My usenet client is GrabIt. It’s freeware and it does the job. I admit its not as good as Newsbin Pro but its second in the list in my books.
I didn’t knew the software, but i’ll win
Newsbin is a very reliable and intuitive program for handling binaries. Hopefully I win.
I use usenetmonster. They allow mltiple threads and have great support. I have tried the Newsbin trial. I love the search feature. Its great when you are looking for something specific, searching across all groups. Th filters are great also. I would love to win a copy of this software.
I’m currently using Free Agent with my ISP account.
I loved the Newsbin Pro trial. Yay free stuff! I don’t use a client/provider since my trial expired recently, but I was just using my ISP.