NZBCat and SimplyNZBs Summer Sale

Looking for an NZB sites to call home? If so this weekend may be the time to sign up as NZBCat and SimplyNZBs are both offering a promotion to celebrate the summer. Usenet fans in the United States are getting ready for the solar eclipse on Monday. That still leaves plenty of time to enjoy Usenet this weekend. Let”s take a quick look at each promotion. You can learn more about each site on our NZB sites page.

NZBCat

NZBCat is running a summer promotion through Sunday, August 20th. The deal gives users double VIP with any purchase. For example, you can sign up for 2 years of VIP access for $15. In the case of NZBCat, you can not register for a free account as registrations are currently invite only. However, if you try to register on the site it will give you the chance to donate for VIP status which includes the necessary invite. VIP members have access to 500 NZBs and 5k API calls a day. Here’s a summary of the promo:

  • $4 for 60 days (normally 30)
  • $6 for 180 days (normally 90 days)
  • $9 for 365 days (normally 180 days)
  • $15 for 720 days (normally 365 days)

The NZBCat sale will be active through Sunday, August 20th.

SimplyNZBs

SimplyNZBs is offering 50% off all VIP upgrades through the end of August. This gives you two weeks to sign up for a VIP account at 50% off. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the site yet then we recommend registering for a free account. You will find that free users are limited to 5 NZBs a day but it will give you a chance to test out the site. Upgrading to a VIP membership will get you access to 5k API calls a day. Here’s a list of pricing for VIP access during the summer sale:

  • 1 Year VIP – £2.50 GBP instead of £5.00 GBP
  • Lifetime VIP – £7.50 GBP instead of £15.00 GBP
  • Upgrade from 1 year to lifetime for £5.00 GBP until Aug. 31st

The SimplyNZBs summer promotion is active through Thursday, August 31st.

DOGnzb Father’s Day Special

The team at DOGnzb is celebrating Father’s Day with a special. If you renew or extend your DOGnzb account before June 21st you can enjoy up to a year of additional access added to your account. We’ll share the forum post in a moment but to summarize, you get 1 year free with 3-5 years extensions or 6 months free with one year renewals. The site has open registration for those who don’t already have an account. Remember to sign up or renew your VIP status by June 21st to take advantage of the promotion.

Here’s the scoop taken directly from the announcement on the DOGnzb forum:

Renew (or extend) your VIP membership before June 21st and you will receive up to 365 extra days. If you renew for one year, you will get 6 additional months added to your membership. If you renew for 3 or 5 years, you will get an additional year added to your membership.

Please note, that the additional time will NOT be mentioned anywhere, but rest assured it will be automatically added when your payment is automatically processed.

If paying with Bitcoins, make sure to pay the suggested transaction fee, if not your payment could take hours, days or weeks to confirm properly.

(this offer can only be applied once. if you already received a free year from us during 2017, you cannot use this promotion again).

You will still need both a Usenet provider and client software to download your favorite newsgroup content. Don’t forget to check out the latest Usenet deals and special offers on our main Newsgroup Reviews site.

DOGnzb Open for Registration

Have you been hoping for an invite to DOGnzb?  If so this is your chance.  DOGnzb is open for registration.  Last time they opened registration it was only for a few hours though so if you want an account we suggest you register fast.  New members typically receive a 30 day free trial for the site.  After that you can continue using DOGnzb for a fee. Unfortunately DogNZB no longer offers lifetime accounts. Instead they offer 1 year for $15, 3 years for $35 or 5 years for $50. You can pay with bitcoin or use a credit card. Note that credit card payments also incur a $10 service charge.  Given the popularity of the site and scarcity of invites we suggest you get in now.  If you’ve missed previous opening this is your chance to gain access to DOGnzb.

Register for DOGnzb

The site doesn’t really need an introduction.  Since Newzbin and NZBMatrix dropped out, DOGnzb has become one of the hardest tickets in town.  Not only is the site great for finding Usenet content, it’s also damn near impossible to get an invite.  Cheers to the DOGnzb team for opening up registration.  Even if it’s for a short period of time.  To sign up visit their registration page.  It should say “Registration” at the top.  If it says “Login” the open enrollment has already ended.  We’ll keep this post updated any time the site is open to new users.

Here’s a list of features available to DOGnzb users:

  • Exclusive regex rules and deobfuscation algorithms result in additional NZBs available
  • Fine tune your Watchlist delay setting and retention limits.
  • Sync from IMDb and Trakt watchlists every 60 minutes
  • Trigger metadata refresh of any TV show or Movie
  • Push notifications alerts to your mobile phone.
  • iCal feeds of your TV Show Watchlist.
  • Custom Searches and RSS feeds updated hourly.
  • Passthrough and Emulation APIs for mobile phones.
  • Primary and Secondary Push Queues.
  • View NZB contents and perform partial downloads.
  • Mobile Website Interface

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet. Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest offers.

NZB Sites with Open Registration

Feb. 13, 2017 update: Dognzb is currently open to new registrations.  I’m not sure how long it will last so if you want in I suggest you register right away.  You’ll have 30 days to try out the site.  During that time you will need to upgrade to VIP which now costs $15 a year (plus $10 service charge) if you want to continue using the NZB site.

Nov. 15, 2016 update: Registration is open at SimplyNZBs. New users can register for an account and immediately gain access to the site. Access over 1500 days of backfill across 192 newsgroups. As a free member you have limited API and site access. VIP members get up to 5000 API hits a day. You can register now at https://simplynzbs.com/

June 30, 2016 update: 6box is currently open for registration.  The admin accidentally deleted some active users while working to clear dead accounts.  Rather than send out invites he has opened the site for registration.  To register simply visit https://6box.me/register

July 25, 2014 update: NZBSooti is open to new members thru Sunday.  If you haven’t checked out their site yet I recommend it.  Just remember to sign up by Sunday.  To register visit https://www.nzbsooti.sx/.  In addition NMatrix is offering 50% off account upgrades this weekend.  The cost is $5 for life if you upgrade by Sunday.  To register and upgrade visit https://www.nmatrix.co.za/

June 10, 2014 update: Dognzb is currently open to new registrations.  I’m not sure how long it will last so if you want in I suggest you register right away.  You’ll have 30 days to try out the site.  During that time you will need to upgrade to VIP for a one time fee of $10 if you want to continue using the NZB site.

April 17, 2014 update: nMatrix is getting ready to go private.  If you’d like to become a member before they go private visit https://www.nmatrix.co.za/.  You will need to sign up and then upgrade to VIP status to keep access.

Mar. 7, 2014 update: NZBSooti is open to new members this weekend.  If you haven’t checked out their site yet I recommend it.  Just remember to sign up by Sunday.  To register visit https://www.nzbsooti.sx/register

Feb. 1, 2014 update: nMatrix is opening registration for one day.  Make sure to sign for a free account on February 1st.  The registration window will end at midnight EST.  To register visit https://www.nmatrix.co.za/register

Jan. 10, 2014 update: Dognzb opened registration to celebrate the New Years holiday.  New users have 30 days to try out the site for free.  To keep your account active they requite that you upgrade to VIP in the first 30 days.  The cost is $10 for VIP access.

I know a lot of Usenet fans have been looking around for new NZB sites and search engines since Newzbin2 and NZBMatrix closed down.  You’ll be happy to know there are several new options.  Obviously they aren’t as complete as the big dogs of the past but give them time.  Better yet each of the sites we’re about to list is open to new registrations so you won’t need an invite.  The sites are free to join and use.  Some of them offer premium accounts or VIP status based on donations.  Check them all out and see what you think.

Nzb.su open registration

From what we’ve seen so far it seems like there are a few new NZB sites and Usenet search engines that have a shot of being the next NZBMatrix.  Their are several contenders and our favorite is nzbX.  Again though registration is open at all these sites as we’re writing so we recommend you sign up for each and try them all out.  Find the best fit for you.  Several of them are built off Newznab so you’ll notice similarities.

Here’s a list of NZB sites that are free to use or have open registration:

  1. DognzbDognzb.cr (lately they have been opening registration for short periods every few weeks)
  2. Nzb.suNzb.su (closed to new members other than by invitation)
  3. NzbplanetNzbplanet.net
  4. NZB FinderNzbfinder.ws
  5. Nznindex.inNzbindex.in
  6. NZBFriendsNzbfriends.com
  7. FindNZBFindnzb.net
  8. NZBidNzbid.org
  9. BiNZBBinzb.com
  10. FastNZBfastnzb.info

Remember to sign up for the new sites while they’re open for registration.  We’d like to wish each of the new NZB sites and search engines the best in building an active community of Usenet fans.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest deals.

DOGnzb Lifetime Users Find Themselves Limited

September 2016 update – DOGnzb recently opened registration for new users.  All new members get 10 days of free access to test the site.  From there you are required to donate to keep your account active.  Otherwise the staff will delete the free account and you will need to wait until they offer another open registration period.  Up until last year, DOGnzb users were offered VIP lifetime memberships.  That’s no longer the case and in fact “lifetime” memberships were reduced to one year of VIP and then converted to Lite accounts which limit use.

Here’s a list of the current subscriptions DOGnzb is offering:

  • $15 donation for one year of VIP access
  • $35 donation for three years of VIP access
  • $50 donation for five years of VIP access
  • $10 free for credit card transactions, no added fee is using bitcoin.

Original post – November 2015

In late October DOGnzb decided to step back and close registrations for the year.  They are changing the way memberships are structured.  In years past you could sign up for lifetime access.  Long gone are the days of signing up for a $10 lifetime account.  In fact those who signed up for lifetime access will soon have ‘lite’ accounts which are only good for occasional use.  A DOGpass will give you full access to the site.  Current members will be able to purchase a DOGpass for $15 a year plus a $10 service fee which includes a t-shirt.  They also have longer term plans that cost $35 for 3 years or $50 for 5 years plus the same $10 service fee.

Here’s the message DOGnzb staff posted in their forum:

Ok, so I have some bad news. I’ll get right to the point. Lifetime access as you know it will be changing. This was a hard decision to make, it’s not easy going back on something previously offered, but the fact of the matter is the site is becoming hard to sustain with the current model, and just keeping registrations opened, and letting new users sign-up is not a good idea. The costs of operating, hosting, running and updating 6 servers are significant.

I know probably a large majority of the user base will be alienated right of the bat, but what is the alternative? To close up a site that is unable to sustain itself in 6-12 months.

So better to make the changes now, keep the current user base, and go back to keeping a low profile.

So starting today, registrations are closed. Invites will come back in some form next year. An annual membership needs to be paid to have full access to all our features, and DOGpass subscriptions will be eliminated (all former DOGpass functionality will now be available to every member).

In both cases, please check your profile pages for information on your updated expiration date. When the current subscription expires, any user that decides NOT TO renew their premium subscription will be moved to a LITE tier. Access to the website will still be possible, but daily download quota and API calls will be considerably limited, Watchlists and Custom Searches will be disabled, as well as IMDb and Trakt sync.

You will still have lifetime access to the site, accounts will NOT be purged, but it will be a ‘lite’ account (perfect for occasional use, or for people that use us primarily as a backup).

What does this mean for current users? It basically depends on when you originally registered.

For members that registered after December 1st 2014, your lifetime payment, will be converted to a 1 year subscription, starting on the date of your registration. If you were also a DOGpass member your expiration dates will be increased by an additional year.

If you registered before December 1st 2014, your subscriptions will expire on the same month/day of your registration, so expirations will be staggered during the next 12 months. If you’re were also a DOGpass member, you will retain your current expiration date.

Pricing is the same as DOGpass was: $15 for 1 year, $35 for 3 years, and $50 for 5 years. For now, payment still involves a third party website that manages the transactions for an extra $10 service charge (included with the cost of the T-Shirt). Unfortunately, I’ve been vocal here in the past about the problems we’ve had with PayPal, Coinbase etc. So it’s better to just do a 3 or 5 year extension if you can.

Bitcoin payments are also possible at this moment. We are looking into other payment alternatives.

For users that registered recently (last 60 days), your expiration date has been bumped up manually. Also users that have separately donated in the past, you can contact any staff member for instructions on how to get bumped up also.

These features, previously available only for DOGpass users, are now available for everyone:

  • Exclusive regex rules and deobfuscation algorithms result in additional NZBs available
  • Fine tune your Watchlist delay setting and retention limits.
  • Sync from IMDb and Trakt watchlists every 60 minutes
  • Trigger metadata refresh of any TV show or Movie
  • Push notifications alerts to your mobile phone.
  • iCal feeds of your TV Show Watchlist.
  • Custom Searches and RSS feeds updated hourly.
  • Passthrough and Emulation APIs for mobile phones.
  • Primary and Secondary Push Queues.
  • View NZB contents and perform partial downloads.
  • Mobile Website Interface

I understand this will not be a popular decision, and I expect a lot of complaints. But please try to understand, we are trying to make things work in the long run.

It will be interesting to see if members who were downgraded from lifetime to lite plans decide to pay more for a DOGpass or search for alternatives.  Things are further complicated by the restrictions placed on payments.  DOGnzb requires a third party payment processor which adds $10 to any payment.  While they include a t-shirt for the $10, most people aren’t interested in the site for a shirt.  After being downgraded some users are also likely to be skeptical about signing up for a long term account.

DOGnzb is a quality site.  I disagree with their decision to limit lifetime accounts.  They made a commitment to users who gladly donated for the memberships in the past.  Those users are likely to look elsewhere.  Those who have been waiting for an invite will likely get an opportunity to join the site in the months to come.  You just need to consider the fees involved.  Some will find the site a good value while others will rely on alternatives.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest deals.

NzbDrone Changes Name to sonarr

NzbDroe has been looking for a new name.  They want to rebrand the site and get away from the word nzb in the name.  In true web fashion they went to the NzbDrone user base in search of ideas.  Not only did they get some response, the community sent in over 800 names.  We look forward to seeing the list and will add a link to this post when the guys at NzbDrone, now sonarr, share the names.  The new site will launch at sonarr.tv.

sonarr

Here’s a copy of the announcement:

First off, we want to thank everyone for their input into our new name, we ended up with over 800 suggestions, which included some really great suggestions as well as some NSFW and some hilarious ones (don’t worry we’ll be sharing all of them with you). Again thank you for your input, it was invaluable.

I’d also like to thank… just kidding, this isn’t an awards show.

It took us a long time to decide on a name and the moral of the story is name things is hard, extremely hard, specially when it is something you care so deeply about.

Decision Criteria

  • Short and sweet – We aimed for 2 syllables, but would have accepted 3 if we found a perfect name
  • Simple to understand (staying away from things like “nzb”) I’m sure many of you tried to explain NzbDrone to friends and family, it was always a chore to get them interested for me because I’d spend half the time explaining what an nzb is and never got to talk about what it actually did.
  • Googleability, we wanted a name that was going to get us in the top 3 results without much trouble
  • Domain name – we wanted something short to type and easy to remember
  • Relevance – This wasn’t high on our list, but we did try to find a name that was relevant to what drone does

The Decision

After reading all 800+ names multiple times and tossing our own names into the ring, we went through several rounds of eliminations. Once we settled on a few possible names we would ask our close friends and family what they thought of each name and used their feedback to tweak names further.

We made the final decision yesterday around noon, and decided sonarr is going to be NzbDrone’s new name. It was the first name that everyone really liked off the bat.

Why sonarr?

It comes from sonar7, it’s a way for us to see into total darkness and discover what’s out there.
We are also changing our old tag line “cut the cord” to “Dive in.” to be more in line with the ocean theme. The extra ‘r’ is there to help with domain, and searchability. also all the cool kids are doing it.

Next Steps

We couldn’t wait to tell the you guys about the name change so naturally we haven’t had time to actually re-brand anything yet. But over time you will see the following changes taking effect

  • All of our web properties *.nzbdrone.com domain and sub domains will start to automatically redirect to sonarr.tv25
  • References to NzbDrone will start being replaced with sonarr (lowercase)
  • As part of this migration all of our web properties will also be moving to HTTPS for improved security and privacy.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest deals.

Binsearch.info Site Down : What Caused the Outage

July 14, 2014 update – we’ve heard from a number of Binsearch users who are unable to reach the site.  We are able to confirm that Binsearch.info is down using multiple DNS servers.  Their sister site, Nzb.cc, is still up so hopefully it’s just a short outage.  Nzb.cc might serve as an alternative if 1,000 days of retention is enough.

January, 2012 – Earlier this week we had several readers question what had happened to Binsearch.info.  As the site was down for a time on Tuesday.  We didn’t try to hit Binsearch during the outage but saw the results as the data was rebuilt.  Binsearch had hard drive failures that led to the site being down followed by some time to rebuild the index after an older restore point.  Now users are once again enjoying the full benefits of Binsearch.

Those familiar with Binsearch know that it’s one of the best Usenet search engines.  A clear favorite among NGR editors and highly recommended for the quality and performance of the site.  Covering some 1,100+ days of retention with a very simple interface.  The site is very easy to use and best of all free to all Usenet fans.

In the past we’ve recommended temporary alternatives when sites like Binsearch go down.  It appears the site is 100% but just in case you can always visit our Usenet search area for recommendations.  Binsearch is our top pick along with their sister site NZB.cc and other leaders like Nzbmatrix, Newzbin, Nznindex, etc.

Head over to Binsearch to find the latest Usenet content along with posts from 3+ years ago.  Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet. Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest news and offers.

Build Your Own Usenet Indexer

Since the fall of Nzbmatrix and Newzbin2 there have been several new NZB sites launch and some close.  There are still a lot of people interested in building their own Usenet indexer.  Whether you want to index groups to share with friends or for personal use.  You have a few options.  Our favorites are Newznab (NN+) and nZEDb.  Both will get the job done.  We’ll share some helpful resources to get you started.

There are a number of options still available for finding Usenet content.  From clients with built-in search to NZB sites and search engines.  You can visit our main site – Newsgroup Reviews – to learn more about the latest software and websites available for searching newsgroups.  With that said the rest of this post will focus on doing it yourself.  With free source code and resources for getting everything set up.

Newznab Usenet Indexer

We suggest you start by taking a look at Newznab.  You can use Newznab’s free open-source code to build your own Usenet indexer.  They offer both a free version and a premium Newznab Plus (NN+) release that adds additional features for around $20.  Most the new NZB sites are built on the Newznab engine.  For that reason you’ll notice a lot of similarities between the Newznab screenshots and some popular NZB communities.

How to Geek Guide

If you decide to give Newznab a try then @taybgibb has written a great guide on the How-To Geek site.  Taylor walks you step-by-step through how to build a Usenet indexer using Newznab on a system running Ubuntu.  You will also need a Usenet provider with long retention and good completion to build the index.  The guide is very informative.  We noticed that both Taylor and Newznab have responded to users comments.

See how others are going about creating their own Usenet indexer.  Here are some additional resources:

Regardless of whether you choose Newznab, nZEDb or something else to build your Usenet index we hope you enjoy the outcome of having your own private newsgroup index.  If that doesn’t work you can always fall back on the old school method of downloading and searching your way through the headers for lost treasure.

Response to NZBSooti Site Crash

This morning NZBSooti crashed.  The admin of the site has been working the last few days to stabilize issues with the site.  Unfortunately the operating system crashed this morning leaving the admin without access.  He has a backup of the data but can’t access it after the crash.  It’s possible the site might be down for good.  If so NZBSooti’s admin is offering to refund members who paid within the last 90 days.

NZBSooti

Here’s the message NZBSooti’s admin shared earlier today on Reddit:

Hi Everyone, Last few days the server has been acting crazy and I have done everything I can to stabilize it… Sadly this morning the OS completely crashes and won’t let me log in no matter what.

Right now it looks like there are two solutions:

  1. Close the site and refund anyone who want their money back with the money left. (newer members first of course)
  2. Wipe the site and start over, tbh, I just lost my job and don’t have much time or money, but I am willing to start over if that’s what everyone wants.

We tried backing everything up, but I don’t have access even to the backup.

I’ve spent the last year and a half working very hard on providing as good a service, sadly its taken a toll on my work and finance.

If you guys have any other solutions ill be glad to hear.

Hope everyone understands.

NZBSooti Admin.

P.S If the majority here wants to shutdown, those who want a refund please send your transaction ID in a PM, it must be within the last 90 days so I can refund you, otherwise paypal won’t allow it

NZBSooti is a good site and hopefully will be for some time to come.  The crash may be the end of NZBSooti or perhaps a fresh beginning.  A number of Usenet fans have stepped forward on Reddit to offer help.  The event is still evolving but there are a number of helpful tips and offers for assistance in bringing the site back online.  Best of luck to everyone involved.  I look forward to an even stronger NZBSooti in the future if possible.

While the site is down I’m sure some will be looking for alternatives.  There are several other NZB sites and search engines to choose from.  It’s really a matter of preference.  Here are some options:

Usenet clients with built-in search engines:

Usenet search engines:

NZB Sites:

Once again I’d like to wish the best of luck to NZBSooti’s admin and everyone who is helping to bring the site back online.  We appreciate all of your efforts.  You can follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest updates.

DOGnzb API Server and URL Update

Are you having issues with DOGnzb giving an error that looks something like this one “No data returned from http://dognzb.cr/api?apikey” lately?  If so we have good news.  DOGnzb isn’t broken and the fix is simple.  You just need to update the API URL.  DOGnzb rolled out a new API server along with a new URL.  You’ll want to use either https://api.dognzb.cr or http://api.dognzb.cr depending on your profile configuration.

DOGnzb API update

Here’s the URL structure for the old API server:

  • http://dognzb.cr/api

If you are still using that in SABnzbd then you’re getting errors as DOGnzb is moving everything over to the new server.  To fix the issue simply change your API URL to one of the following:

  • https://api.dognzb.cr
  • http://api.dognzb.cr

Whether or not you use https is up to you but a little extra privacy never hurts.  While we’re on the topic of privacy I wanted to pass along that DOGnzb was not affected by the heartbleed bug.  The bug impacted those running OpenSSL v1.0.1.  Since DOGnzb is still running OpenSSL 0.9.8 they were not affected.  With that said if you use the same password across multiple sites it’s time to change that strategy.  Better safe than sorry.

Anytime we mention DOGnzb there are requests for invitations.  My suggestion is that you keep an eye on our NZB sites post along with r/usenet for the latest open registrations.  The DOGnzb team has been kind in opening the site to new users a few times already this year.  If you get a chance in the weeks or months to come I definitely recommend you sign up.  When you do the site is free to use for 30 days.  From there you can get a VIP membership for a $10 one-time fee.  I personally think the project is well worth supporting with a donation.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest deals.