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A newsgroup is a discussion forum - a kind of massive electronic message board. When we refer to newsgroups on the Internet, we are generally talking about the Usenet (aka Network News). Usenet is a massive network containing more than 50,000 different groups, covering millions of topics.
To access Usenet newsgroups you need a news browser. These are bundled in to popular web browsers such as Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer (Outlook Express), or you can use a web-based service such as Google Groups.
If you use a local application, you will also need access to a news server. Most of the time your ISP will provide this service as part of your Internet access deal. You can also connect to one of the many public access news servers around the world. Public access servers come and go all the time. Finding a server is pretty easy - simply search for "Public Access Usenet Sites" on Google or Yahoo.
It's worth noting that not all news servers will carry every newsgroup - there is just too many of them. Check with your provider to see that they carry the groups you want, and request them if they don't. A good news service should however carry somewhere between 20,000 - 30,000 groups.
If your ISP doesn't offer a news service, or it does not carry a decent number of groups, check out Clara.Net. Clara.Net is one of the oldest British ISPs and they offer a news-only service called ClaraNews. Access prices range from GBP £29.99 - GBP £99.99 (approximately USD $50 - USD $175) per year, depending on how much downloading you want to do on a monthly basis. The great thing about the service is that you don't need to have a dial-up account with them or even be in the UK to use it! ClaraNews carried over 50,000 groups, including binaries, and you can get instant access when you pay by credit card.
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