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Can someone explain Usenet to a long-time torrent-er?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
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Piracy
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Usenet is basically a forum so that’s where all the benefits lie. Files are split up into multiple parts and then propagated to various servers. So, just like BitTorrent, you’re downloading a file from multiple places at the same time and also are downloading multiple parts of the file at the same time.
The difference, though, is that, whereas with BitTorrent you’re reliant on the speed of someone else’s internet connection and the hope that enough people have enough parts of the file, Usenet files are hosted on dedicated servers and every file is mirrored to every Usenet mirror. These are typically dedicated connections too so the speeds are nice and fast.
The other less-used benefit is that BitTorrent files don’t really have a way to recover a download if the source file is corrupted or incomplete. If you download a file from a torrent and one of the users seeding has a corrupted part, you have to verify the contents of the file and then your client has to find a valid part to download from. This isn’t a big deal but can be a problem when a file or torrent has few seeds. With Usenet, your download comes with Parity (.par) files. These files are checksums that allow you to recover any number of parts or files so long as you have enough .par files downloaded to cover the number of pieces missing. This means that you can download incomplete archives at any point and you’re never reliant on other users since the .par files are also uploaded by the initial poster.
Both have their benefits and drawbacks but Usenet mostly wins on the first-past-the-post timeframe. BitTorrent probably wins as time goes on because it’s very rare for a torrent to have bad pieces or anything after the first day or 2 of the initial upload. Also, most scene releases are posted to Usenet first. So, if your concern is getting released as soon as possible, Usenet wins. If you want ease and not a lot of fucking around, BT wins.
Who is hosting the files that a person downloads from usenet? Isn't there a concern someday that they'll decide not to host anymore and now that media can't be accessed?
You're paying them money, so it's in their best interest to keep hosting.
The uploader uploads their stuff to their own Usenet provider (whom they're probably paying for). Usenet servers are frequently mirroring/syncing with each other. So very quickly after the uploader uploads, you will find their post on your Usenet provider, and you download directly from them.
If a Usenet provider someday decided not to host any more, they would be out of business (because who would use them), and so you'd switch to a different Usenet provider, where you'd find exactly the same stuff mirrored.
Usenet providers compete/distinguish themselves mostly based on:
What provider has such low retention? I've never seen such a thing. The lowest I can find is 600 days, with most being between 2000 and 5000.
Also some corrections, the provider doesn't package anything together. The indexers do that in the form of an nzb file. Unraring is still necessary, but most download clients will do that for you.
Does the retention period mean that older content (say, a show from a decade ago) is less likely to be present?
Not really, especially when you use the 5000+ ones since that is nearing 14 years. Also, people re-upload old stuff all the time. If you want, you can give me some examples of what you think might not be available and I'll let you know if it's there.
I was assuming that typically people only post really in demand stuff, but if the period is a decade, someone probably posted I dunno Bucky O'hare or Street Sharks in that time.
Yup, found both of those.
Sweet. Thanks.