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[Timekeeper]

Well I am just a bit curious and wondering are we permitted to download(?) from them or is that a big NONO?


Timekeeper

[puntagordabob]

I do not see any reason why not.....

[eyore]

Mousebits has no say over what you do in your spare time  
I don't think it's permitted to show exactly where you got it from in detail though (just as they don't allow linking to stuff on P2P sites which I won't name - me hearties etc as they often have commercially available stuff there as well as OOP).  
I think a lot of stuff that has been posted here originated from newsgroups originally.
Did you mean can you get something from a newsgroup and upload it here or upload to a  fileshare site and post the link?
As far as I know there is no problem provided it's good quality. Nothing that says that anything posted has top be your own work (although it's nice to ask if you know whose work it is) - and always make it clear that it's NOT your own work.
There are plenty here that belong to newsgroups (I don't as you have to pay for it! and my ISP doesn't have any - they dropped them a few years ago).
Same criteria re commercially available applies of course.

[Wizzard419]

Newsgroups are kind of a dying format, like with all file sharing it needs people to keep it going and unless your isp lets you in for free it's not worth paying for.

[SeaCastle]

From my understanding, the newsgroups used to have a lot of great stuff. I used to peruse it a couple of years ago when my ISP provided it for free, but I didn't find anything too special. I'm not sure if this is the case anymore.

[thetrout]

Newsgroups are still a very popular method of file sharing.  That said, the Disney Parks group has been practically dead for quite some time.  Almost no new content shows up there.

[Timekeeper]

OK, I am going to check, be right back.


Timekeeper

[Timekeeper]

Also, can any of you recommend a free server, since I just checked and my ISP doesn't do it anymore. And a free reader too?


Timekeeper

[eyore]

I never found anything that worked that was free.
The problem I found was that the free ones didn't seem to be able to access the newsgroups I wanted.
Outlook express had access to newsgroups but only certain ones (nothing of interest to me there).
I eventually gave up when I realised that places like here had better stuff.

I think I tried Grabit as a free client.  If I recall, I found a few files but they never downloaded (I think they were short lived ones).
I gave up after that. 

[Wizzard419]

Xnews is a free reader but a free server is pretty much non existant (in terms of what you want). Since the hosts had to pay for usage many only supported select groups, so unless you want to pony up the cash they won't be able to help you.

That and it's a dead format, you might as well ask for them on tape reels.

[eyore]

And what's wrong with tape reels  I have some very good stuff on reel-to-reel tapes (and a couple of players to play them on)! Check out Magicmusic's site for the Jack Wagner stuff - on tape.
I wouldn't live long enough to transfer all my tapes to CD alas (I got my first recorder in 1963).
In all seriousness though, there are plenty of clients available for free but, as you say, you need a server 
The client is like we have uTorrent. You still need somewhere to get the stuff from - imagine if Mousebits was a "pay for" site and you get the idea.
If I understand it correctly, the server actually hosts the files? That takes a lot of storage (unlike a tracker which links to a PC somewhere).
Good download speeds but, I imagine, expensive to maintain.
I find that most P2P stuff is recent and available these days (hence the witch hunt against them) rather than hard to come by OOP stuff.
Original sites like Autogalaxy and Napster had a lot of old stuff (and park stuff as well) that was just unavailable to buy.
I'm wondering what newsgroups have now - are they following the trend of just pirating available stuff or do they still have masses of the older things there? I suspect the former prevails now.
Also, am I right in thinking that even a paid for server will have a certain number of sites that they "serve" so you may find that the newsgroup you want isn't one of them?
I ask because I did take out a free trial (it was a pay for server, not a free one) which didn't link to the one I wanted (I think it was something like alt.binaries/disneyparks - something along those lines anyway). It wasn't on their list of available newsgroups.
I do know (as said) that free ones generally are very restricted as to which groups you can link to and probably not anything that would be of interest here.

[Wizzard419]

You could always pay to have them transfered if you have many reels.

But yeah, usenet required a physical location to host the files, hence the fees, and since they didn't want to endlessly expand they would also only allow so much data to be stored before it would start to remove files. I think it was kind of like cable TV where your selection may vary from company to company but you can request a group be added.

A friend of mine was devistated when his ISP ended usenet. I had to laugh though since they closed it for the exact reason he used it, pirating movies.

They were talking about the death of usenet provided by ISPs and how many of them had either no users or less than 5.

If you want something similar to a usenet experience I would say that you probably would want to use a message board that posts links to online storage sites.

[eyore]

Ah, like Mousebits and mediafire eh? 


Transferring the reel to reel tapes would cost in the region of $1000 including bulk discount (already checked).
I'll stick to playing them on my tape recorder thank you.
For that much I'd rather have another visit to DLRP . Nothing spectacular on the tapes (mainly family stuff and my folk group rehearsal sessions from the 60's - no loss there if they get dumped when I'm gone).

[Wizzard419]

That is what I was alluding to.

Ah, you could always do it for about $5 with a cable (implying your player has a headphone jack) but that would require more time from you.

I don't think there is any rapid method to transfer analog to digital though, which probably explains the high price as well. The benefit being they have lots of machines to do it and you don't have to lift a finger.

[eyore]

I could easily transfer to digital (I have already done that with some "important" stuff) by using the aux out/line and transfer at max speed and then use software to slow it down to the right speed but what's the point. I have two reel to reel tape recorders (one spare just in case). I also have cassette players, record players etc to transfer stuff to digital (I never throw stuff like that away if it still works - I put them in the loft). Already done umpteen hours of 25mm slides and photos to CD and DVD and also videoed my 8mm home movies and put them on DVD as well. The live folk club sessions I have already done. The rest is junk really (the old radio recordings of the top 10 I have been able to get on compilation discs) or transfer from vinyl (several hundred albums already done).
I doubt I would have time to trawl the newsgroups by the sound of it