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Usenet Newsreaders

Unison

Home Page Release Notes Screen Shots License:
Shareware; $29

Current Version: 2.0.5 (March 23, 2010)

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 2.0.5 address the following:

  • Fixed automatic recovery for stalled / interrupted downloads
  • Fixed sporadic crash due to threading problem in operation queue
  • Improved database performance
  • Added "Save Attachments" and "Save Messages" to File menu
  • Double-clicking an NFO or image file now invokes "view as message"
  • Fixed lag when flushing deleted messages and files
  • Fixed random crash after creating par set containing a file under 16KB
  • If all messages and files are deleted from a newsgroup, we now clear out the database file
  • Fixed problem with uploads using the wrong encoding for file names
  • Fixed problem where newsgroups from "check for new newsgroups" action were unusable
  • Menu items and actions for message/file list are now available when search field is selected
  • Fixed CPU usage problem when search view is active
  • "Hide incomplete files" works now
  • "Use server" in newsgroup info works correctly now
  • If font size in HTML post is smaller than font size in prefs, we scale it up
  • If message has only one font, change it to user's preferred font
  • Deleting an expanded file group now moves selection to next item
  • Source list no longer changes size when resizing window
  • Changed "Currently Selected" in group info newsgroup selector to "Active Server"
  • Fixed possible database contention on source list selection change
  • Transfers status in sidebar tracks paused status better
  • Added warning when dragging stuff out of source list
  • HTTPS works in search now
  • Added the SSL lock indicator to the window title bar
  • Unison now warns you if you quit while unPAR/unRAR is running
  • Sorting by Name column now puts 2 before 10, ignores "re:"
  • Added "Server" popup to message composer if user has multiple servers configured
  • Message composer now warns before promoting post to HTML
  • Fixed possible crash when target files are deleted during unRAR
  • Fixed problems with music player stopping early, starting up again when changing newsgroups
  • Fixed decoding of multipart/partial file posts
  • Can now reply to extremely long threads
  • Downloads now use selected string encoding
  • Get Info now shows newsgroup name
  • Rules now apply colors to file groups
  • Fixed problem with ">" characters in replies
  • Newlines now stripped from upload description
  • "Move To Bottom" contextual menu item in Transfers no longer throws exception
  • Fixed problem with sidebar items having wrong index path after deleting an item above
  • "Canceled" files no longer restart when when the queue is unpaused
  • Periodic header check no longer starts while a previous load is still active, doesn't run after group is deleted
  • Fixed some memory usage issues
  • Fixed slowdowns when 100,000 files are queued, if you really want to do that
  • Image load operation no longer cancels when thumbnails are scrolled off screen
  • "Show in Finder" in Transfers is no longer available before the file has started downloading
  • Fixed problem with group count showing more posts loaded than total
  • We now don't delete stored data for a newsgroup if another copy is still in the source list
  • Fixed "full keyboard access" tab problems in preferences
  • Fixed slowdown reloading newsgroup list
  • Transfer group error is now cleared on retry
  • Fixed problem with PAR files losing indentation after postprocessing
  • If download group has only one file on finish, error message is no longer lost
  • Ran ShrinkIt on internal resource PDFs, shaving a few MB off the binary file size

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 $29.

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 10.5+ (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.

Related Links

Andrew Starr has another marvelous page about Usenet newsreaders that you simply must check out.

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 . . .

These are applications that are newer and of potential interest, but which I haven't yet selected for permanent inclusion. Have a look, and let me know if you think they deserve to be part of the permanent collection!