Ok I've been netted up for a while now. Never downloaded a single torrent. I think I installed a P2P client once in the 90's. What is the big attraction? Every other post appears to be talking about torrents and download speeds.

Am I missing out on something?

I thought it was just a way to share files, movies etc. Is that what you download?

What other benefit is there?

Torrents are designed to allow large files to be split over a number of sources {separate computers} thereby reducing bandwidth usage on a single machine. These days their traffic amounts to, by some measures, 60% of the internet overall. The technique is used to deliver software, such as Unix distributions, and, as noted, music and video {though any discussion of the unauthorised distribution of copyrighted material is not permitted herein}.

Regards

It's also quite rare to get a virus from torrents. P2P is another matter.

I still find a great newsgroup provider such as easynews.com or usenetserver.com combined with say newzbin.com. The best way to get anything Most of the stuff on torrents originate from newsgroups anyway.

And using grabit or newsleecher its the only way i can get near the 240KB/s with 8 connections to the news server. (on TOT Goldcyber)

No way I could use torrents or P2P again just no point.

I still find a great newsgroup provider such as easynews.com or usenetserver.com combined with say newzbin.com. The best way to get anything Most of the stuff on torrents originate from newsgroups anyway.

And using grabit or newsleecher its the only way i can get near the 240KB/s with 8 connections to the news server. (on TOT Goldcyber)

No way I could use torrents or P2P again just no point.

Usenet groups like easynews.com are fine but I find them a little expensive. You will get your files quickly -- perhaps at the TOT Cybergold limit of 204 KB/s (not 240, is it?) but I'm not crazy about paying $10 a month with a 20GB limit (typical plan). Using torrents, I can DL far more than 20 GB a month without the added expense of a usenet fee. I get the impression that more files may be available through usenet groups (mostly non-mainstream stuff) but I can seem to eventually find everything I'm after using torrents. I guess for those with lots of money who want their files quickly, usenet groups are the way to go. However, after using torrents for a over a year, I can see that usenet groups aren't necessary for me.

Agreed you have to pay the newsgroup provider. Usenetserver has 3 months $39.95 for unlimited GB. Its not non-mainstream stuff actually its moremainstream.

Check out Newzbin.com for the NZB files. Nintendo Wii,Xbox360,DVD,VCD,MAC OS X,PC Games, PC Apps groups. Everything appears in these groups and eventually finds its way onto torrents. You get everything u will ever need - I feel is worth the $39.95.

2048K connection equates to 240 Kilobytes per second.