yea some isps have some for free but they have download limits, speed limits and very short retention.
giganews is best for that. long retention secure connection and 99% always maxed my speeds .
but with newgroups cost money and they get things hours maybe days-weeks after torrents etc
private torrents > usenet
for new releases i would say private torrents>usenet....
but for movies, DVD-Rs, and older stuff, usenet is def the way to go, especially if you have unlimited DL....last few times i tried, i couldnt even connect to usenet after getting this shitty AT&T u-verse thing.
and any scene release people wanted, whether it was an album or a DVD-R, was posted on usenet within 3 hours of the release....