Never heard? lol

Well usenet as mentioned above can be free from your ISP as your isp probably does have a news server you just dont know about it :P Usenet can be used purely as a message board like this, or files can be attached to posts its a very popular way of people not in the 'scene' to get stuff such as DVD's, Utils etc.

I personally have very little need for usenet, get stuff via FTP