Underground-Gamer Shutdown

[Alpha]

I heard a lot about this torrent tracker over the years. It was a kingdom of full roms sets and had a lot of rare abandonware.

 

However, it was just brought to my attention that it was recently shutdown. I'm quite shocked.

 

http://torrentfreak.com/underground-gamer-goes-down-citing-legal-problems-130602/

https://opentrackers.org/underground-gamer-has-shut-down/

 

Legalities aside, I wonder what people will do or go to now this place is gone?

[Jitway]

There are plenty of torrent sites to takes its place. Also newsgroups are the way to go for this kind of stuff. Much safer than torrents.

[Alpha]

There are plenty of torrent sites to takes its place. Also newsgroups are the way to go for this kind of stuff. Much safer than torrents.

 

I thought newsgroups were on their way out? I could swear I read of many getting shutdown a few years ago. That, or I'm dreaming

[Hard Core Rikki]

Trading is not going to disappear for as long as DVDs continue to exist and it only takes reception of one to keep the activity 'the grid'.

[Jitway]

Ya NZB indexing sites are getting shut down. There have been many that have closed the doors in the last year but uploaders are getting smarter and naming stuff with jumbled letters. When you run quickpar it fixes them. But newsgroups will never shut down there is no way they could shut that down no matter how hard they try.

[Cominus]

How do you use a newsgroup?

[Jitway]

How do you use a newsgroup?

First you need a newsreader. There are many for free. I use Newsbin Pro and it is not free. Second you need a newsgroup service. Some internet providers give you access to them for free but free ones are very limited and slow. I use NewDemon and it is not free but very nicely priced at $6.95 a month. This allows me to access all the newsgroups out there and get very good download speeds. Next you need to use a NZB index service. Now there are many for free and they work almost as well as the paid ones. I myself use a free one but it is invite only. Search google for NZB sites and also. Here is a great site that explains newsgroups in further detail. http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86516/how_to_download_from_newsgroups/

 

I hope this helps answer some of your questions about newsgroups. Feel free to ask me for more help if you need it.

[Alpha]

 

 

How do you use a newsgroup?

First you need a newsreader. There are many for free. I use Newsbin Pro and it is not free. Second you need a newsgroup service. Some internet providers give you access to them for free but free ones are very limited and slow. I use NewDemon and it is not free but very nicely priced at $6.95 a month. This allows me to access all the newsgroups out there and get very good download speeds. Next you need to use a NZB index service. Now there are many for free and they work almost as well as the paid ones. I myself use a free one but it is invite only. Search google for NZB sites and also. Here is a great site that explains newsgroups in further detail. http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86516/how_to_download_from_newsgroups/

 

I hope this helps answer some of your questions about newsgroups. Feel free to ask me for more help if you need it.

 

 

I still am confused on newsgroups vs. torrent sites. Is there any "seeding" involved with newsgroups? And, historically, do you know of anyone who has ever got caught downloading pirated material using newsgroups? Or is it too hard to track?

[Cominus]

A newsgroup is basically like one of the mirc thinga-ma-bobs except you pay for it, at least that's what I gathered from it.

[Jitway]

 

 

How do you use a newsgroup?

First you need a newsreader. There are many for free. I use Newsbin Pro and it is not free. Second you need a newsgroup service. Some internet providers give you access to them for free but free ones are very limited and slow. I use NewDemon and it is not free but very nicely priced at $6.95 a month. This allows me to access all the newsgroups out there and get very good download speeds. Next you need to use a NZB index service. Now there are many for free and they work almost as well as the paid ones. I myself use a free one but it is invite only. Search google for NZB sites and also. Here is a great site that explains newsgroups in further detail. http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86516/how_to_download_from_newsgroups/

 

I hope this helps answer some of your questions about newsgroups. Feel free to ask me for more help if you need it.

 

I still am confused on newsgroups vs. torrent sites. Is there any "seeding" involved with newsgroups? And, historically, do you know of anyone who has ever got caught downloading pirated material using newsgroups? Or is it too hard to track?

There is no seeding once it is uploaded by someone all you do is download it. No no one has been prosecuted for downloading only uploading. And still uploading anymore is hard to track as most are done with jumbled filenames.

[Shibathedog]

I use SABNZBD although I own a copy of Newsleecher. I hear Newsbin pro is pretty much the best client but I haven't used it. I think newsleecher was a bit better for manually redownloading/repairing files and such, also you cannot download text articles in sabnzbd only files but overall I like sabnzbd better it is also free.

 

Newsleecher pissed me off because when you buy it you are basically buying the program plus 1 year of updates. My copy is now horribly out of date and I'm not paying for it again just for updates. Pretty much no other software works this way and I find it to be bullshit. If I could get another year at less than the price of the whole program I might do it. The shitty thing is I really only bought it to get an invite to newzbin which is now dead.

 

Random usenet tips:

 

Some providers are resellers, see who has the best deal on the same service. Also providers outside of the US tend to care less about copyright. Astraweb is the worst now, They have an automated takedown system where copyright police can just fill out a form online and it automatically takes down the file without really checking anything. Check out this map http://i.imgur.com/Pgzby5R.png

 

Usenet is better than bit torrent for pretty much everything except music. finding anything but the most popular of shit on usenet music wise is pretty much a pain in the ass. Honestly I think 1 click hosting sites are probably the best for music outside of what.cd and waffles.fm. Even those sites are a pain in the ass though because it is so hard to keep your ratio up. This is coming from someone who has a ratio around 10 or more on all the sites I use.

 

bite the bullet and learn how to use sites like binsearch and nzbindex. I know for some people it is incredibly confusing at first but once you "get it" its really very simple. Now you won't have to rely on sites like Newzbin/NZBMatrix which have been shut down and will continue to. Something that helps a LOT is to use advanced search and define a minimum maximum filesize, then add -german. There is a TON of german stuff on usenet and sifting through it all is super annoying unless you speak german I guess. Also try adding "efnet" to your search because a lot of IRC rooms act as a sort of index so its kind of like a verified source.

 

Having multiple usenet accounts is always good in case of missing parts/copyright takedowns/whatever. Get one service you pay monthly for unlimited, and then buy a couple block accounts other places and set up your client to use the block accounts when files cant be found on your main unlimited one. A block account is where you pay X money for Y GBs and it lasts forever until you use it all up. If you dont download that much sometimes it is a lot cheaper to just use block accounts.

 

About UG, yeah it sucks, once I FINALLY got a membership, got coinops, and built up an insane ratio (it was like 40 or something ridiculous) it gets shut down. I think people are over reacting about the content though. Pretty much everything they had can be easily found elsewhere. It was just convenient to have it all in one place. People are saying shit like some of that stuff is lost forever now. It really isn't. It was a great site though.