NZBZombie Review

Zombies seem to be everywhere these days and now they’re in the world of NZBs, too. NZBZombie is a NZB indexing site that offers always open registration, API and phpBB3 forums to its users. It’s a customized Newznab site that indexes some of the most popular newsgroups and that has good retention rates.

The Service

NZBZombie has only been around since December 12, 2012, but it already has over 600,000 NZB files in its indexes. There are 55 newsgroups that in total being indexed by the site. The side administrators say that they’re not currently backfilling, but that they will be in the future.

The updates are continuous. The updates, in essence, come as fast as the technology allows, making this a good choice for people who want their NZB indexes updated as quickly as possible.

The goal of the site is to be a community site in addition to a USENET indexing site, according to the site administrators. The organization is a non-profit and is being run by people who wear many hats, according to the developers.

Features

NZBZombie supports RSS feeds and has an API. The servers include an Ubuntu server with 512mb RAM and 4 CPUs, at present. NZBZombie plans on upgrading the hardware as demand dictates.

You can donate to the site if you want to lend some support, but registration is always open and free, giving it something of an advantage over some of the other Newznab sites out there, which are oftentimes closed to registration for long periods of time.

DMCA requires will be honored by NZBZombie, as they are located in the US. The company says, however, that they will relocate overseas if this becomes too much of a problem for them.

Customer Experience

NZBZombie wants to create a community and says that all of its users will be treated as VIPs. The boards are designed to offer a place for people to socialize and, of course, get questions answered. There is no fee to sign up and NZBZombie doesn’t plan on adding one. They’re currently advertiser supported.

From the Developer

The developers recommend that users always use SSL when downloading. You’ll find many options among our preferred USENET access providers that offer you that capability. SSL prevents anyone from being able to spy on what you’re downloading via encryption. Adding a VPN for additional security is also a wise move if you’re very concerned about privacy. USENET is sometimes throttled by ISPs, so SSL or VPN—or both—have speed advantages, as well.