this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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Just wondering what a rough split is of people using either Usenet, torrents, or both?

I've only just discovered Usenet and while it is paid, it is very cheap and much more convenient than torrents.

Using torrents as well with the *arr suite set up for my various Linux ISOs.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Usenet as daily driver works 99% of the time. Only use VPN/torrents for extremely new or very obscure shows. $5/month pays for unlimited Usenet and VPN.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

5$ for vpn and usenet? where can one hypothetically get this?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

This UsenetServer discount link gives you 1 trial month for $1, then $50/year after that, and includes a 1TB TweakNews block and a paid PrivadoVPN account.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just want to let you know that Privado VPN is not a private vpn, please read their privacy policy before buying into their services.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Looks ok to me, what in particular do you take issue with?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This was discussed on reddit a bit ago. The same company in place now ran IPVanish and they logged and rolled over on the user. No reason to think they wouldnt do the same with privado and if you are ultra worried tin foil hat-ish, would they do the same with their usenet? who knows. https://torrentfreak.com/ipvanish-no-logging-vpn-led-homeland-security-to-comcast-user-180505/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Good to know I guess, but yea that's a bit too speculative for my taste.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

yes seems silly they would do it for usenet but i would have said the same thing a few years ago about vpn. i guess things are fine until they arent.. my main surprise in the vpn case was their willingness to work with the feds. they told them once we dont have anything and then THEY contacted the feds and said hey, ask again why dont you.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Only use VPN/torrents for extremely new or very obscure shows

Interesting, I would have thought torrents would be better for older stuff due to their theoretically infinite retention. Like, can you find, say, LOTR: The Return of the King on Usenet at the moment? Someone has to have uploaded it in the past ~2 years (retention period) or something for it to be available, right?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Afaik most usenet providers have a retention period of 3000+ days (some even reaching 4000+). I've downloaded multiple things from the 90s without any problems. The oldest media in my collection is from 1957, so retention really isn't a problem I would say.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

I managed to get Thomas and Friends from 1987

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Retention doesnt matter for anything released beyond the retention as it was reuploaded anyway.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

LOTR = anything from 4K HDR 7.1 Atmos, down to DVD is available (theoretically, as you can have items that exists, but can’t be fully downloaded so don’t work, because of DMCA and other things). The oldest release I see is 5800 days old and the newest is 4 days old. So people keep reuploading stuff if it’s popular enough. (I still can’t find some episodes of Ben 10 tv show lol)