Sending marketing messages and newsletters via email has become a fool’s errand; the obvious work-around is RSS. I’d much prefer to get public relations materials this way [1. Dan Gillmor, Computerworld].

If you spend 1/3rd of your daily time in front of a computer, not just because it is a work related liability, but because you enjoy being with the machine, then I am sure you would have used a “news reader”. However, if you are wondering as to what is a news reader then I am afraid to tell you that you are not even close to being a techie. In either case this post might interest you.

What I am going to do in this post is:

  1. Explore the famous five RSS news readers.
  2. Try looking at pros and cons of a web-based reader in relation to an application based reader.

First let me give you some smart definition of RSS feed readers/aggregators [2. News Aggregator as per Wikipedia].

In computing, a feed aggregator, also known as a feed reader, news reader or simply as an aggregator, is client software or a Web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing.

In short if you want to stay updated about a site, then you would want to subscribe to it’s RSS using a news reader. Talking about the famous five RSS readers, well the list of readers out there is unlimited. I am going to give a perspective of the one’s used in Windows environment.

  1. NewsGator FeedDemon: This one is turning out to be one of my favorites. It’s a stand alone software, the sync your newsgator account feeds and brings the power of reading news on your desktop. No browser is required to read the news. If you have a constant internet connectivity and access, probably this is the best option for you. The NewsGator FeedDemon version 2.7 is free to download. Because it is a stand alone application, the amount of features are immense and hence this one is for both amateurs and geeks. I can assure you that you won’t feel sorry for trying it.
  2. Google Reader: If you would ask me what I have been using for sometime for reading news and updates, the answer would be Google Reader. If you are hooked to the SSO (Single sign on feature) of Google account, and want to read your news from any machine, then this flawless web-based reader is what you want. Comes with features, which only Google can come out with and is empowered with the concept of sharing and collaboration. I am hooked to this and have most of my RSSs subscribed in Google Reader.
  3. Bloglines: Been in existence for sometime now, this is another web-based reader with some great feautres. One of my favorite features in bloglines is the option of creating playlists with your RSS subscribed feeds. You can set-up a blog with bloglines and integrate it with your bloglines reader account. This one has a long way to go!
  4. Netvibes: If you have used Google’s iGoogle and were amused that it was the best personalized page service you encountered, then I am afraid you have not tried netvibes. This is one of the best personalized home page service you’ll find on web. With an eye candy web 2.0 interface, netvibes also brings the power of integrating your news feeds at one spot. Driven on client side Ajax technology, netvibes have features which could take you great amount of time to explore. I really like this one and am hooked to it. I was never a fan of iGoogle, but I guess I found an alternative with which I can live with. This comes with a feature of finding friends from various services like gmail and yahoo who use netvibes. I am too surprised to that only 1 among 400 odd contacts in my gmail use this service. Quite a disappointment. You have a Firefox extension that you can integrate with netvibes service.
  5. Wizz RSS News Reader: I cannot hold myself from having a Firefox extension based news reader in this elite list. The one I have used and have loved is Wizz RSS News Reader. Because most part of my web browsing time is spent using Firefox or Flock, having a feed reader that sits right into your browser avoids a lot of signing in and out. This extension is quite advanced with great features and you don’t need an account to read your news.

I hope I have tried to give a perspective of my favorite RSS readers and what I like about them. There are so many services out there that I am sure you’d end up with something that caters to your needs.

RSS “brings websites to the user, who would otherwise have to chase the website.” [3. Keith O'Brien, PR Week]

Coming to the second part of evaluation. I’d say a +1 to all the web-based readers over their counterparts. The reason is simple, I should be able to access and read my news from any part of the world, from any machine and an Operating system independent News Reader. I’d say Google Reader would be my first choice followed by NetVibes, just because of my dependence on Google’s SSO.

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