With so many RSS feeds out there in cyber-space, it can be difficult to follow all the blogs and websites that interest you. A news reader (technically, a "feed aggregator") can help you sort it all out. A news reader can "check" the web site's feed to see if there is new content to display. But which news reader is right for you? Basically, there are two types of feed reader: Browser based and stand alone.
Browser Based Readers
A browser based reader is and Internet web site which allows you to subscribe to and read newsfeeds using your favorite Internet browser. Examples of these are:
- Google Reader
- News Gator
- My Yahoo
- Bloglines
Some of the advantages of these types are (typically) the feeds are not downloaded to your computer, (except perhaps your browser's cache) and therefore do not take up space on your hard drive. Secondly, your activity (read feeds, subscribing, etc.) carries over from device to device. For example, if you mark feeds as read on your iPhone, and later log in using Firefox, you have no need to mark them again.
The main disadvantage of having a web-based reader is that you must have an internet connection. A second reason some dislike browser-based readers is the requirement of having an account. For example a gmail account. For some this raises privacy issues.
"Stand-alone" Aggregators
There are numerous applications both free and proprietary available as well. Examples of these are:
- Safari (Built in aggregator)
- Firefox (Built in)
- OSX Mail
- Feed Reader
- MS Outlook
Many of these allow you to download your feeds for 'offline' viewing later.
What do you use? I'd love your hear your comments and tips!
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