At 02:42 PM 3/23/2002 +0000, Adam Back wrote: >I just saw Steve Shear's post (copied below) on the dcsb list where he >mentions USENET movie trading in VCD format in alt.binaries.vcd. I >didnt' try any out, but it took my newsreader a fair while to download >and thread the subject lines, and there certainly seem to mostly >binary attachments.
To conveniently use these binary groups you need to have a reader with appropriate features. My choice is NewsBin Pro. Interestingly, posters are now using RAID technology to assure accurate and complete posting deliveries over the unreliable links used by Usenet feeds. Posters segment their binaries (usually a 600-800 MB CD at a time) using WinRAR and then generate redundant PARtial information using a program like SmartPAR. DL'ers can reconstruct damaged or missing WinRAR parts with PARs on a one-for-one basis (i.e., any one PAR can repair/replace any one RAR). Its simple and very effective. >Though this approach lacks the convenience of >kazza et al, it's interesting to see the plethora of channels by which >this is happening. Its inconvenient from the standpoint of not being able to search and find materials at will. However, DL speeds average (in my experience) 10 times greater than Kazzaa and the old Morpheus. steve