OTR binary newsgroups

[ Theory | Getting the files | Missing segments | UseNet and (in-)efficiency | Posting binaries ]

Ok, so you know there are OTR MP3s whizzing around on the newsgroups (aka UseNet) and you want a piece of the action. In my opinion you'll be better off in the long term (although perhaps a bit more puzzled in the short term) if you get a bit of the Big Picture before launching into your downloading frenzy ("must sleep.... can't ... tear away... from .... keyboard...").

The theory

Ok, now for some theory.

Usenet is a global network of of news (NNTP) servers that talk to each other, passing messages around. These messages are organized into Newsgroups (NGs, 'froups, 'groups, etc). Some of these groups, usually with the word "binaries" in them, are used not to pass humanly-readable messages, but encoded binary files like OTR shows or pics of Pammy Anderson. Not that I would know about the latter, of course.

The groups that concern you are more than likely:

alt.binaries.sounds.radio.oldtime
alt.binaries.sound.radio.oldtime
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.misc
There is also a discussion group:
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.oldtime which would be worth your while to read.

The basic concept is that there are two limitations on news (nntp) servers we have to get around in order to post binary files like OTR:

1. News servers cannot pass binary traffic, only text traffic. So binary files must be converted from high/8-bit ASCII to low/7-bit in order to be passed around Usenet (the world populated by news servers and readers). This results in an inflated textfile (10-100% larger, depending), which looks like the noise you've certainly seen in postings: xxxkdfadj#$u8er98e8SDSSJdkjhwekjhqwehwe or whatever.

2. maximum message length enforced by the news servers is sufficient for conversational messages, but way too short to move the multi-meg textfile generated by the previous step. So the file has to be busted up into segments. (in real life, posting clients tend to do both the encoding and size-limiting on the fly rather than one after the other).

At your (the receiving) end, the newsreader will (hopefully!) find (all!) the segments, arrange them in a meaningful order, and decode them back to binary form from whence they came. The usual problem, when one occurs, is that one or more segments expires (is deleted) before you can snag the whole thing...

You can also read a more rigorous explanation.

Get those files!

Different news readers (clients) are better for some things than others. Netscape and MSOE are almost useless for multipart binaries, and will cause you to slam your head repeatedly into the keyboard. There are free and useful alternatives:

Personally I use Xnews.
Free Agent (and the regular Agent) seem to be popular.
you might also look at an automatic tool like power grab or BNR2.

The problem is that downloading/decoding binaries is a different process in each of these clients, so generic help is hard to come by. The idea is that you 1) identify the file[s] you want, and 2) decode them. The best introductory info on this, IMO, is Jo's unofficial downloading guide.

This other page (one of mine) might also be helpful for completing those pesky incomplete binaries, although it assumes a certain amount of familiarity with the concept: http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/otr/xnewsbin.html

Other valuable reading:
http://old-time-radio.com/otrfaq.shtml
Decoding binaries
Retrieving MP3s from Usenet

Rain on the parade

Missing segments All messages expire (are deleted from the server), no matter if they are binary or textual. Binaries are usually ruthlessly expired by news admins, sometimes within hours, because binaries consume a massive amount of discspace compared to text messages. Or maybe the segments didn't propagate to that server. Combine that with the need to have all the segments of a binary before you can decode it, and you can see a potential problem.

Workarounds:

Be johhny-on-the-spot as soon as the binary propagates to (arrives at) your server. You can facilitate this by making your request and making sure your real email address shows up in the post; many request-fillers (?) will give you a heads-up email when they start the post, or will tell you when the posting will begin.
Subscribe to a commercial news server that prides itself on on "completion" (having all the parts) and "retention" (keeping segments for a long time).
Use a newsreader that can complete binaries from different servers
If your newsreader will do so, save/cache the existing segments in your reader (with bodies!) and complete them when the other segments show up. Your reader doesn't care if the segments are local (in your cache) or remote (on the server).
If you get desperate, grab what you can and manually assemble them later.

Inefficiency Binary transport by usenet is wildly inefficient; the only time it approaches efficiency is when someone posts a file that many people in many different locations want. The post[s] get sent to every news server on the planet that carries that group, so reposting a file for one fellow is spectacularly wasteful and may compromise retention/completeness of other posts by pushing more useful stuff off the spool.

How can you help?

announce your intent to post, so people can get ready for your posts.
If you've got a file to deliver to Joe Blow do it directly by web, ftp, napster-like networks, IRC, FTP, streamload, etc.
Offer to repost segments only, and not full files. If the file you want is incomplete, ask that the incomplete sections be resent; there is no reason to send all the traffic globally again just for you, right?

Posting binaries to UseNet Although 'most clients will suffice for occasional postings, if you plan on posting binaries a dedicated posting client will help you (and others) greatly. These are the benefits:

ability to queue up a large number of files and let it run unattended
ability to repost individual segments for people. This is much more efficient than reposting the whole show.
automatic maintenance of a history or log, so you can see what you posted and when

The favored client for OTR postings is PowerPost2000, although some folks prefer the original Peck's Power Post. There is a beginner's guide to PowerPost.

$Id: binaries.orb,v 1.9 2003/03/31 00:14:20 mouse Exp $

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