Macintosh Usenet Newsreaders Software at The Mac Orchard

Unison

Shareware; $24.95

Current Version: 1.8.1 (February 27, 2008)

Unison is an interesting new newsreader from Panic, the people who brought us the fantastic Transmit FTP client for Mac OS X. Unison offers a very clean, threaded, "Cocoa" user interface, as well as a few unique features, such as:

MP3 streaming
Image thumbnails
File grouping
Dock-based status
A Download Manager

Unison is, perhaps, the most "progressive" and frequently-updated newsreader for the Macintosh, and it's particularly worth a look if you want a newsreader that feels similar, in many ways, to Apple's own Mail application.

Version 1.8.1 address the following:

Fixed crash opening multiple SSL connections simultaneously (e.g., when opening an NZB file)
Option click in outline views now expands/collapses all
Fixed bug with empty list after search in image view
Spaces are stripped from newsgroups: field in message composer
SSL lock no longer disappears from host field when you enter username in config screen
Fixed problem with some images disappearing after loading in thumbnail view
"Add to downloads" rule now works when you "Apply Rules"
Removed MIME headers from yEnc file posts to avoid confusing some newsreaders

Panic also offers a Usenet newsfeed service for an additional monthly fee. The software itself is shareware (15 day full trial; after 15 days, favorites are disabled and sessions are limited to 10 minutes), at a price of $24.95.

User Reviews

"Simply put, Unison makes the gathering of anything that is broken into parts much easier to decipher than anything else out there. I know *before* I download if a file will recombine into its whole state. Unison is a giant leap forward for large file downloaders and music enthusiasts."
—Ben Munson

"This is the first real native Mac OS X Cocoa Usenet newsreader for text. Finally there is a smart dev. that knows there was no decent Usenet newsreader (text) for Mac OS X. OK, you can say there is Unison... Unison from Panic is good, but only for binaries; it has no multi server support, auto update of groups, etc, etc, etc. The support from the dev. is also OK. It's still beta, but it's very promising! Try it out."
—Wim De Smet

Submit another review!

Download the Mac OS X 10.3.9+ (Cocoa / Universal) version.

Also See . . .

Can't find what you're looking for? Try a search:

Also, if you have an older Mac, be sure to check out the "Classic" applications page for more options.

Finally, take a look at ALEMIA if you think you know that name of an application, but aren't quite sure.

Key Mac Newsgroups

There are several Usenet newsgroups dedicated to Macintosh-specific topics. Here are the most essential ones:

comp.sys.mac.announce is a moderated newsgroup that contains important general announcements to the Macintosh community.

comp.sys.mac.apps is the place to go when you have questions about specific Macintosh programs.

comp.sys.mac.comm is the place to discuss all things involving Macintosh telecommunications and Macs on the Internet.

comp.sys.mac.printing is for all printer- and printing-related discussion.

comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc is for discussion of all other Macintosh hardware-related questions.

comp.sys.mac.system is the place to go for MacOS-related discussions.

comp.sys.mac.misc is the place to post when other Macintosh-related newsgroups don't fit the bill.

Note: If you'd like to search the Usenet for Macintosh-related information, you really only have one option (but it's a good one): Google purchased the old DejaNews (Deja.com) Usenet archive, and now offers sophisticated searching of all mainstream Usenet newsgroups, both past and present.

Also Consider . . .