Usenet is a worldwide network of discussion groups, called newsgroups, that has been around since 1980, before the World Wide Web. People post messages and files to newsgroups on thousands of topics, and anyone with a Usenet account can read and download them.

To use Usenet, you need two things:

• A Usenet provider, such as Fast Usenet, which gives you fast and secure access to the Usenet servers.
• A newsreader, the program that connects to the servers and downloads posts for you. See Which newsreader should I use?

You can learn more on our What is Usenet? page. If you'd like to try it, our 14-day free trial includes 15 GB of downloads.