Idea for Usenet -> HTTP Service

[predateur]

I imagined a use for people wanting to download from work or school where they cannot install any programs, but have unrestricted access to the internet.

This still makes no sense. Why not use a portable usenet reader? Unzbin and Binreader come to mind.

Addendum: Would port issues be a problem? I know they are for torrents, but if just downloading, it shouldn't matter, right? You could tunnel your login then you'd be home free...

the idea is simple , using "usenet" , Unzbin , Binreader , is not easy to all and some people dont have time to all this
so you will search what you want download (just like in google) , you put it to download then you have a link to download directly to your PC , something like converting the usenet to direct download link (ddl)
i found the idea realy nice , but the mainly probleme is the space , i think at least 20gb is needed (so people can get 1080p movies) , and even with 20gb people cant get full Bluray and some PS3 games :p

[tesco]

I imagined a use for people wanting to download from work or school where they cannot install any programs, but have unrestricted access to the internet.

This still makes no sense. Why not use a portable usenet reader? Unzbin and Binreader come to mind.

There's also ISPs that throttle NNTP.

[Waddafocky]

Ahh, ok. Thanks for the non-condescending answers.

[tesco]

Ahh, ok. Thanks for the non-condescending answers.

Why did you expect me to be condescending?

[Cabalo]

Ahh, ok. Thanks for the non-condescending answers.

Why did you expect me to be condescending?

Maybe he could have thought you staff at a tracker.

[Waddafocky]

Ahh, ok. Thanks for the non-condescending answers.

Why did you expect me to be condescending?

No, I wasn't expecting it, but I really appreciated that it wasn't.

[zot]

I can't see the reason for each person having a private individual 'locker' (especially one limited to just 2 gigabytes) -- why not just allow everyone to share their downloads with everyone else on the service?

Allowing users to "share" downloads would greatly cut down on disk space, the processor/memory load from decoding, as well as providing a service to help others know what files are available.

Allowing users to watch (or fastforward/skip/browse) usenet movies from a web browser (using xvid and h.264 plugins) would be a welcome bonus.

[tesco]

I can't see the reason for each person having a private individual 'locker' (especially one limited to just 2 gigabytes) -- why not just allow everyone to share their downloads with everyone else on the service?

Allowing users to "share" downloads would greatly cut down on disk space, the processor/memory load from decoding, as well as providing a service to help others know what files are available.

Allowing users to watch (or fastforward/skip/browse) usenet movies from a web browser (using xvid and h.264 plugins) would be a welcome bonus.

I think you would run into legal problems going that route...
Leave it up to the users to decide how they use the service, don't present copyrighted content to them directly.

As for the streaming idea, I like it. But the stream would have to be compressed and rescaled quite a bit and I'm not sure if any server can do that on the fly, nevermind for multiple users at a time.

[nntpjunkie]

Correct me if I am missing something here, but Easynews already offers a clean retarded simple interface that allows you to download nzbs via http - it even allows you to generate nzbs based on articles you select and the easynews global search provides thumb previews before you download, queue downloading is available through the zip manager and you can download a complete unpacked archive set on the fly with the click of the download link...short answer neat idea and yes it's already been done

oh yeah and easynews now offers download queue sharing among users...

[zot]

Yeah, I was thinking of Easynews. They of course decode ALL files posted to usenet, not just the ones that get downloaded by their users, and they thumbnail and allow users to search for these files. It's probably a much better system when a lot of users are going to be downloading and watching the exact same movie, compared to having to decode the same file over and over again, every time someone requests it.

As for the streaming idea, I like it. But the stream would have to be compressed and rescaled quite a bit and I'm not sure if any server can do that on the fly, nevermind for multiple users at a time.

I was thinking of the way that an NZB Player works: the rars are decoded and watched while they are downloaded. Even though it is a "streaming" player, at the end the person is left with the exact same video file as if it had been downloaded using any newsreader.

Additional stream compression would not be needed, but the obvious limitation is that a person needs to have a fast connection, and download a relatively small video file.

It would also be a useful feature if an "easynews"-type service would offer a choice of several different quality versions of a video -- like KeepVid.com does for Youtube videos-- so a person on a slow connection would not be forced to spend all day long downloading a huge file. If Keepvid can do it, I don't see why Easynews can't do it.