>Considering that you have to pay anywhere from $10 - $20 a month for Usenet access, people buy into this service not because they want "free" movies/music, the

>Considering that you have to pay anywhere from $10 - $20 a month for Usenet access, people buy into this service not because they want "free" movies/music, they're paying for the ability to download virtually any movie/album they want... at any time they please. Dunno about that. I'd wager that "free" is a pretty damn big part of it, bigger than the size of the catalog for many folks. The most prolific Usenet users I know aren't using it for convenience or access to rare content. They're amassing a hoard of utterly mainstream movies (Avengers...) and video games that could be enjoyed conveniently for a reasonable price from any number of sources. Personally, if I cared to watch Avengers I'd have paid $5 to start streaming it on my Roku from Amazon immediately.