Usenet is a very old decentralized network that existed long before the WWW.
In the early days it was used to exchange text files. Anno 2015 it is mainly used for exchanging binary files.

The history of Usenet

Usenet originated in 1978. Two students from Duke University were looking for a way to exchange data. After some time, they developed a new Internet protocol called NNTP, which stands for Network News Transfer Protocol. At the time, only government agencies, universities and a few large corporations had access to the precursor to the modern Internet. Forums and email did not yet exist and people exchanged information online through bulletin board systems.

After the rise of Usenet, more and more people started using it as a means of communication.
Someone uploaded a text file in a certain newsgroup and then other people could respond by uploading a text file in turn.
As the Internet began to grow and more people had faster Internet connections, people began to exchange binary files. At first, these were small files, e-books and some songs by certain artists. As the Internet became better known and connection speeds got faster, people started exchanging complete multimedia files. Today, people exchange Blu-ray videos in 3D, a download of about 50 GB. In the near future, uploads will become much larger, Usenet has no data limit because Usenet is a decentralized network.

Usenet is a collection of newsgroups

The Usenet is made up of a huge collection of newsgroups, each with its own topic. There are newsgroups where people exchange text files but there are many more newsgroups filled with binary files.

Some newsgroups are dedicated to a specific topic, from Japanese funk-rock to Dutch soap operas. There are also newsgroups where you can find everything about a subject, for example, the newsgroup alt.binaries.nl is completely dedicated to everything Dutch, all kinds of multimedia files from series to soccer matches. There are also a kind of garbage newsgroups, where everything is uploaded, alt.binaries.boneless is such a newsgroup.

Anyone can search a newsgroup, there are several search engines to do that. One of the best known and most useful search engines for searching newsgroups is binsearch.info.

Downloading from Usenet newsgroups

To download from newsgroups, you need a software program and a news server provider. (Compare provider Usenet)

If you only want to download or upload text files, a simple email program is usually enough. Internet providers support the exchange of text files using the NNTP protocol, so if you have an email account as well as an email program, that's enough to upload and download text files.

However, if you want to download binary files you need a special download program, a newsreader.
Searching the usenet You will also need a news server. A news server can be obtained from a news server provider.
You need to enter the news server logins into the newsreader, after which you can start downloading from newsgroups.
If you then go to a search engine that allows you to search newsgroups, it is possible to create a so-called NZB file. You can download an NZB file, load it into your news server and it will download the files for you. This may sound complicated, but it is not, although it is a bit cumbersome.

Searching the Usenet and downloading with Spotnet

You can also use a program that allows you to search newsgroups and then download directly from that program. One of those programs is Spotnet, the advantage is that with Spotnet you can easily search and download without other programs or websites. After downloading, Spotnet unpacks a download for you and if necessary Spotnet repairs the download.
Spotnet is a very practical program, especially for novice downloaders, we have made several tutorials about Spotnet for that reason.

Is the Usenet free?

The Usenet is not always free. Some Internet providers include Usenet access but it is often limited in speed or you have a download limit. If you choose a Usenet provider, you will often receive a free trial period so that you can try the service without cost. This is useful if you want to try the service first before paying or if you only want to download something once. At Eweka you can for example test for 14 days. (More information can be found at: Eweka for free).

further information can be found under this link: usenet pay as you go