I have been an avid fan of recommending Newshosting as an ideal option for newsgroup access. If you are going to spend money every month to access newsgroups (which is really the only way you are going to comfortably do it), you might as well go with the best when it comes to not spending too much, while also getting the most for your money. However, the normal method of accessing newsgroups isn’t for everyone. Some require a learning curve since they have never used newsgroups before. For them, there is another option.

Lately, we have been playing with Easynews, which is a very similar service when it comes to features and cost, only it comes with additional tools to make your experience a breeze. One of these features is their own search engine that can be accessed from any browser, including mobile devices. In fact, there are even apps for your mobile device that work with Easynews. What’s nice is that you can download items from newsgroups, directly from the search engine interface. No need to have an external application to manage your downloads with. Just one search engine to do it all.

There are many things that can be customized about the search engine as well, to make sure it displays to your liking. You can even switch to a dark mode (as you can see in the header image above), which a lot of major sites (like Bing) are still promising to eventually be a feature. You can customize how results are displays and more. They definitely seem to have put a lot of effort into the design of it.

Not only can you download directly from the search engine page, but you can also choose to download and send it to your zip manager, or download it as an NZB file that you can send over to your favorite download manager (ie, Newsbin), which we’ll talk about in a moment.

The only thing I found that was odd was when you come across a post that no longer exists. Typically meaning that it has been taken down due to copyright, or it is an incredibly old post (I say incredibly because like Newshosting, Easynews has an incredible retention that is ever-growing). When you come across a post that no longer exists, nothing really happens when you click to download it. Normally, when using a download manager, you have access to a log screen that would give you an error like “no such posts exists on the server”. However, in the Easynews browser, it just gets lost in “connecting” and the page never updates. It makes you think the download button is broke. I ran into this a few times and then decided to do it from my favorite download manager, where it then told me the post was no longer available. So they do need to work on a status/log feature or at least some kind of notification that pops up and says “sorry, this post no longer exists” (maybe even strike it from the results for the future).

However, we’ve been playing with it for a little while now, testing various searches and posts (files). In most situations, everything acts exactly the way you’d hope, which is great. I would still learn how to use a download manager (if I was you) for any large amount of posts you are looking to download at once, as browsers don’t always like to be flooded with downloads. However, for a post here and there, the search engine is great to download from.

It can also act like a normal newsgroup service, where you can add the server information to your download manager (ie, Newsbin) and use it like you would Newshosting or any other newsgroup service. Of course, now you are taking things into the direction of needing to read the newsgroup tutorial if you have never done that before.

You can use the Easynews search engine to find NZB files to send over to the download manager, or you can do everything in one place if the download manager has its own search function–although this usually means another subscription fee, depending on the app you are using (Newsbin charges $30/year for their search function).

Easynews truly is an all-inclusive newsgroup service that is really “easy” to use and affordable, making it incredibly “easy” to recommend. You can visit their website here and subscribe at a discounted rate that lasts for the life of the account.