Update: Right. I get the point. I’ll try Google Reader. Geez, though: as much as I love them, I wonder when they will become Cyberdine Systems?
OK, I’m fed up. So to speak.
I read several dirty commie pinko blogs a day (and some science ones too). Instead of laboriously going through bookmarks to get to each blog separately (and then half the time finding out they haven’t posted in several minutes), I use a feed reader. For those not in the know, most blogs have an RSS feed — a way of saying "Hey, a new blog entry is posted!" I have one, and you can access it from the right hand sidebar over there –>.
There are services called aggregators that pick up these feeds and collect the new posts for you this. This way you have one-stop shopping for all your reading instead of hunting all over teh intertubes. Also, you only see new posts, and don’t have to worry about when someone updates their blog. The aggregator does that for you.
I am currently using BlogLines. The thing is, they recently updated to a new version and it now sucks. It hangs, and I have to click on links multiple times to get them to display. I also hate the way they have editing set up, which makes it really difficult to rearrange feeds and to delete them.
So, my minions: if you use a feed aggregator, which one do you use? Firefox’s? I tried that once and didn’t like it, but that was over a year ago.
Bear in mind, if I switch, I want to be able to import my already-listed feeds, and I have several dozen. I don’t want to do that manually! I waste enough time during the day reading blogs and then complaining about them.
So what do you do?
October 9th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
http://reader.google.com
It’s not even in the labs anymore (OR beta, amazingly).
October 9th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Use Google Reader, it’s accessible from everywhere, imports your existing Feeds via OPML ( the standard way for listing feeds ), has short cut keys like a desktop app, is searchable, works offline ( with Google Gears installed) and is free.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I am an absolute devotee of Google Reader (http://reader.google.com/). It’s extremely simple, very clean – the interface is similar to GMail – and if you access it over a mobile web browser it has a specific interface that is also simple and efficient. Many friends of mine have switched to it and never looked back.
It can also import OPML files from other readers, assuming they can export them. Fortunately, according to this:
http://www.google.com/help/reader/faq.html#export
Bloglines has export instructions.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Snarfer works great: http://www.snarfware.com – It’s free with a single ad tab, clean, and lightweight. They update it frequently (for the better). I used to use FeedReader: http://www.feedreader.com and I’ve gone back and forth. Right now, Snarfer is the better product. In both cases, they run on a local machine so you can’t read your feeds from the web.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Google Reader, definitely.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Google Reader does it for me too.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
(long time fan, first time post’er; love your work!)
I resisted using RSS for quite a while. I liked going to my fav’ sites and seeing what was new. I finally relented recently and am fully-converted to the righteous. I’ve replaced a lot of my browsing with RSS’ing.
I tried Firefox’s RSS reader and I too was underwhelmed. Love the browser; unimpressed by the reader.
Currently I’m using Google’s Reader. It’s still browser based and remotely loaded so I can get an up-to-date view from any computer. (between school, home and work, I’m on several different machines throughout any given day)
I don’t think they’ve got an easy way to import your settings though. Sorry.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Another vote for Google Reader.
Whichever you choose, making the switch shouldn’t be that hard as (nearly?) all feed readers can import OPML files, which you can export all your feeds from Bloglines as.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I would suggest nothing more than Google Reader. I use it, and despite a desire to reduce my reliance on Google, I really haven’t found ANY software or other site that beats it. Best of all, it imports and exports OPML files, so it’s easy to trial and decide if it’ll work for you.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Another vote for Google Reader.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Another vote for Google Reader.. I used to use Safari’s built in RSS reader, but got tired of dealing with working on multiple machines.
Eric
October 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Google Reader. Just superb. I used to use GreatNews which is client. Very light and easy to use.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Jason, you actually find Google Reader mobile to be useful? Maybe on lightweight phones, but on mine (Windows Mobile 2005, Opera Mobile), I find it to be more frustrating than anything. Especially that it always redirects links through the Google mobile page viewer crap (which makes most pages unusable).
The only real downsides for Google Reader for me are that it’s occasionally laggy, and that it won’t (can’t, not Google’s fault) read internal company feeds. Other than that, it works really well.
They just need to implement right-click on the feeds/categories so I can mark as read more easily.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Yeah, they do. Click “Manage Subscriptions” at the bottom of the page, then click on the “Import/Export” tab.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
If you’re used to using an online reader (bloglines), then switching to google reader will be a snap. And it’s far superior to bloglines. There are so many stand alone newsreaders that it’s not even worth evaluating them. If you want a standalone, it’ll probably take you a few hours (or maybe an entire day) to find one that’s not too clunky. I gave up because I couldn’t find an efficient standalone reader for a windows machine and now use google reader.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I’m quite happy with the Sage add-in for firefox. I’ve never tried Google reader, but I find that Sage suits me well (I don’t really have time to search huge numbers of blogs).
October 9th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Google Reader, as everyone else has said. If you use Firefox, you can even get a nice little icon in your browser that tells you how many unread items you have.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
I’ll add my vote for Google Reader. I’d tried it initially back in its Beta phase and quickly given up on it. I think I tried Bloglines next (and a couple of times since) and hated it. Still do. I used a server-side aggregator on my server for awhile and also a desktop client (Mozilla Thunderbird). I’ve come back to Google Reader, though, and stayed with it once they finally got the bugs worked out of the system. It’s the one I swear by now.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Been said, but google reader. All the way.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Google Reader is… oh. Beaten to it, it seems…
Listen to the masses
October 9th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Google Reader too, but I wish I could mark messages as unread.
I also wish it showed when a blog I have blurted nonsense on has wiser comments. The news reader does that, but not for blogs.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Oh, and if you do use Google Reader, this is essential:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3977
October 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
BaldApe, you can make the messages as unread. Just uncheck the box at the bottom of one. The comments feed has to be supported by the blog, and you have to add the feed manually. This blog has one right under the last comment – just add that as a feed (is how I saw your response).
October 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
I also use the Google Reader.
I have a friend who swears by BlogLines but I haven’t talked to him in a while I’ll ask if he has problems with the new update.
I have another friend who uses netvibes but that site gives me a seizure.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
There’s a program I’m surprised no one has mentioned — Google Reader. ;o)
Seriously though, the best feature is the “Next” link (it’s available in the options) that allows you to make a little bookmark that takes you to your next unread entry. I rarely go to the actual Google Reader site, it’s quicker just to click “Next”
Good Luck!
October 9th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I am happy with the NewsFox add-in for firefox. It lets you organize your feeds pretty easily.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Ummmm, Bloglines? As soon as they announced the new beta, I switched over to the new interface. I suspect you;re complaining about having to click on stuff to get it to stop showing as a new post. You can get around that. If you click on the fist post in a feed and then scroll from there, all the others below it get marked as read as you scroll down. And then there’s the Mark All as Read button at top.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I use Outlook 2007, which will readily supports OPML and will alert you to new posts.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I’m using NewsGator because I’m currently too damn lazy to change to anything new. I don’t recommend NewsGator since they seem to be going through the same nonsense as Bloglines with a very cumbersome and annoying new version.
Eventually, however, when I get motivated, I’ll probably go to Google Reader.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I used Sage, but it was too unstable. Having certain things in any of the entries currently being reported in a feed list made Sage unable to access that feed at all until that entry was gone. I tried Wizz RSS next, but it didn’t do a very good job of displaying new posts. I now use Akregator, which is currently linux-only but will be released for windows and mac in December (assuming they stick to their schedule).
It is a great program. I can organize my feed by folder. It has a search system, the ability to filter entries by whether they are read or not (either all feeds, one feed, or all feeds in a folder). It displays how many new entries are in each feed, each folder, and total. It can either show the summary like a normal aggregator or show the whole web page (you make this decision separately for each feed). It has customizable alerts, including sound, popup windows, taskbar alerts, opening another program, etc. It can keep entries forever, use the blogs rules, or use your own rules. All of these can be set on an overall and per-feed basis. It has tabbed browsing, even opening other web pages in tabs. And when I am not using it, it just sits in my system tray and tells him how many unread feeds I have. It even has a spell checker. It is great.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Sorry Phil – forgot to tell you about Google Reader.
Signed, the entire world.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
While I’m reminded of that scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian (’you’re all individuals’… ‘I’m not’…. ’shhhh’…), I’ll have to baa like a sheep with the rest of the commentators and say Google Reader. You’re not going to find anything better.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Looks like I’m the odd one out. I use my Livejournal account to read blogs. You can turn any RSS into a feed on there, and this blog is up there at http://syndicated.livejournal.com/bablogfeed/.
Every day when I read my friends list (and sometimes every hour), I see what my friends are up to, and what the blogs are up to, all on one page.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I really like Thunderbird for reading feeds as I can compress the time I use to read my emails and blogs in one sitting.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
[...] davidhirschman wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptInstead of laboriously going through bookmarks to get to each blog separately (and then half the time finding out they haven’t posted in several minutes), I use a feed reader. For those not in the know, most blogs have an RSS feed — a … [...]
October 9th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I was in the same boat you are in now, Phil. I saw the impending doom that was the bloglines redesign, and even though I loved it, I knew it had to get, especially since it was blocked at school. So I jumped ship to google reader. It’s not perfect, but I’ve gotten pretty used to it. It’s not bad.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I use Live.com, I have my 10-15 or so of my favourites on the front page there (which I use as my home page too). You can import and export feeds out of that too, which is pretty standard for everything nowadays.
Typically I just use IE7’s and Outlook 2007 to handle the rest of my feeds.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I’d have to second, third, fourth, etc. Google Reader as well. I have a Cingular 8525 PDA Phone and Google Reader allows me to browse my feeds effortlessly while I’m sitting around with nothing else to do. I had a few other RSS reader gadgets, but none of them worked as well as just using the phone’s internet browser pointed at Google Reader.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I use RSS Bandit (http://www.rssbandit.org/) and when I’m traveling, I use the Yahoo Mail beta reader. Both do the trick for me.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I’ve used Safari’s RSS-reading capabilities for some time now (ever since Mac OS X Tiger came out). I keep folders of RSS bookmarks sorted by category (this blog is categorized under “Science News”!), and haven’t gone back to old-fashioned blog-reading since.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Hey BA,
I see you’re using Feedburner for your RSS feed. If you log in and go to “My Feeds”, click on the BA feed and then click Feed Stats > Subscribers, it will give a breakdown of how everyone subscribes. That way, you’ll see what people really use, not just who responds in comments.
My blog has about 45% using Google Reader, 18% using Bloglines, 8% with Netvibes and everything else is smaller still.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I use Netvibes as my start page… with different tabs for different feed categories.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I use Sage in Firefox and I love it. It pops into the sidebar, I can check all blogs at once for updates, see which ones I haven’t read, and hide it in the sidebar when I’m done. There are also some .css files out there for Sage which you can edit to view RSS feeds in a comfortable font, color, etc. Judging by the outcry, though, I may have a peek at Google Reader soon (read: whenever I have pressing work that needs to be done and procrastination is key).
October 9th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Posting this from Akregator, which one other person mentioned. It’s a great program.
The most similar thing for Windows currently is simply called Feed Reader. I find it much more convenient to have an offline feed reader as a separate app, so have no use for Google Reader.
http://www.feedreader.com/
October 9th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Minion? Well… I guess I must be different than most of the other minions here, I really can never seem to get in to Google Reader – just tried it again. The one I use is RSS Bandit (http://www.rssbandit.org). I don’t use any of the more advanced features of it such as posting replies so I can’t comment on them, but it does let me get through about 200+ articles a day with ease.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I use google reader. It’s not great, several local newspapers’ feeds dupe horribly, but it works fine for your rss feed, so I guess that’s good enough for me.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
“Update: Right. I get the point. I’ll try Google Reader. Geez, though: as much as I love them, I wonder when they will become Cyberdine Systems?”
I understand totally, Phil. I really really really hate giving my soul over to Google. I’m currently looking at an RSS->imap solution instead, but that didn’t seem as turnkey as you were looking for.
Google IS evil and their servers will develop artificial intelligence.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Bandwagon! I read the Bad Astronomy Blog RSS through Google Reader! You look great when googled!
Why in the world did I use three exclamation points? It doesn’t even make sense.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Google Reader. Hands down.
http://reader.google.com
October 9th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
I’m going to add to the Google Reader echo chamber.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
I also use Safari’s RSS reader and really have no complaints, although I don’t know what the experience would be like on the Windows side with Safari beta. I’ve never tried Google Reader which apparently is everyone’s fave. If any of you who have used both (Safari and Google Reader), could you enlighten me to the benefits of the latter? I’m always game for better products
October 9th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Didn’t you just get a Mac?
Dude, seriously, use Vienna. Don’t mess around with that Orwellian Google Reader crap.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
You use a Mac don’t you?
NetNewsWire is by far the best.
http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/Default.aspx
There’s even a free Lite version to try out before you buy the full version.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I am one “dirty commie pinko” for all there is, but why use such names? Why not say socialist or humanist? Or Bright. I know it’s a loaded term, but it is, unfortunately, right. We’re talking about compassion and humanity. Only socialism is human, there’s so much to share, who will benefit from the invasion of Iraq but Bush family and their Blackwater style?
October 9th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Me too: Google Reader
October 9th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I keep all my rss bookmarks in a folder named ‘rss’ that sits on the Bookmark Bar in Safari. As new articles are posted I see the number of unread articles in the name of the folder, i.e. ‘rss (3)’. I think Firefox has a similar feature.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I use Linux (Fedora Core at work and Ubuntu at home) so I use Akregator.
Fantastic, easy, small foorprint, never have a problem.
http://akregator.kde.org (or just yum/apt for it. Linux only).
October 9th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Google Reader. The only time I actually visit your webpage is to post a reply.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I second the nomination for Vienna. It’s free, works excellently, and it is only accessible from the computer you’ve installed it on. The last point is a plus for me, because it keeps away the temptation of reading blogs while at work.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I will add another vote to the already swarming mass of those for Google Reader.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I’m going to fall in line with the Google Reader suggestion. I used BlogLines for a while but defected months ago for Google. It’s easier to use and better laid out IMO.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I have to second NetNewsWire. It is simply the best RSS reader I have used. It’s wonderfully easy to use, with copious shortcuts, and features a brilliant browser for quickly opening up the posts’ webpages. I can rip through my 300 news feeds without a second thought, as the muscle memory of the shortcuts allow me to focus on the content of each post. NNW will change your life.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Try using Apple’s Safari browser. You load a feed into the bookmark bar; if there are new things to read, the link in the bookmark bar is appended with the number of new things to read. For outright reading of the items, it’s a tossup with Google Reader, but for showing what you have to catch up with, Safari’s the filling in my twinkie.
did
October 9th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Once again, Google Reader. The best little feed aggregator money can’t buy.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
After reading all the suggestions, I tried Google Reader and I instantly fell in love with it. I added several blogs and podcasts in just a couple of minutes and everything works perfectly. It’s amazing.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Phil,
Do you mean the Bloglines beta? I’m still using the old Bloglines, and I prefer it to Google Reader.
- Luke
October 9th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Google Reader – it’s free and it’s just a click away!
October 9th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
*NOT GOOGLE READER*
iGoogle
I use iGoogle. I’m not saying don’t use Google Reader. I just wanted to distinguish my post from the 10^23 other commenters who use GR.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
RSS Bandit is a great standalone feed program, tons of features.
http://www.rssbandit.org/
October 9th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Another fan of Google Reader. I was using Bloglines until about a week ago, and had the same issues you’re having. Google Reader is better in just about every way, and even lets me access older articles in feeds I’ve already read (a feature desperately lacking in Bloglines).
On the other hand, I haven’t figured out how to get a blogroll widget from Google Reader the way I can from Bloglines.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I use (and am now reading through) FeedReader. Once in a while I use Opera Mini on a i415 boost phone, but I’m at the computer enough that it’s not all that useful except when I’m out of town without access, which isn’t often.
I have no real grounds to compare though, I’ve only recently left simply clicking through my bookmarks in the morning and if something is bad in FeedReader, I’m quite content to just click “Open in new window..” and go back to Firefox (viewing as a browser). It’s totally good enough to me though. I’ve been considering going to firefox handling now that it’s there, but until it breaks I won’t fix it. I’m not terribly concerned about comfort, I just like having “who updated and who didn’t” in an easy to find place. The rest of the bells and whistles, shine them up real nice and put them somewhere that’s not on my HD.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I just started using a feed reader (Google’s) a few weeks ago and it has made my daily browsing experience SO much faster and less time-consuming. Also, I have the Google Reader Notifier installed (on Mac) and so I don’t even have to check when the Google Reader page all the time either. Love it!
October 9th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I may get a few funny looks for saying this , but the “Feeds” built into IE7 are good enough for my purposes so I don’t feel the need to install any other software. But, you know, horses for courses, YMMV, etc. Not sure what your workflow is but I don’t have problems with IE7 Feeds. Also, I think that you can synch the Feeds with Outlook 2007. Should have mentioned that I’m running Vista Ultimate 32-bit and Office 2007…I’m note sure what OS you use though!
October 9th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Another fan of Google Reader. I was using Bloglines until about a week ago, and had the same issues you’re having. Google Reader is better in just about every way, and even lets me access older articles in feeds I’ve already read (a feature desperately lacking in Bloglines). And since I learned how to create a blogroll widget for my blog from Google Reader, there’s no compelling reason at all to go back to Bloglines.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Vienna on the Mac.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
[...] Feed up » This Summary is from an article posted at Bad Astronomy Blog on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 This [...]
October 9th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Netvibes
You can export your bloglines feeds and import them into netvibes, so you don’t have to start over from scratch collecting your feeds.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I know I’m about the 30th person to recommend it, but Google Reader is spectacular. I’ve been using it for about a week now, and so far it’s the best aggregation tool I’ve used. As a computer nerd who is always switching back and forth between different machines I can say that having a web based tool helps save me the time and energy of syncing thinks up from one computer to the next. That’s a major reason why I started using it, but I ended up loving it for the simple fact that Google makes really intuitive and easy to use apps.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I know you are going to try Google Reader, but if you want a client-side solution these are the ones I like (after trying many, many), in order of preference:
On Windows, FeedDemon ($), GreatNews (free), or RssOwl (free) are all good.
On OS X, NewsNetWire ($), NewsFire ($), and RssOwl (free, again) are all good.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I use RSS Bandit (www.rssbandit.org). It’s free and it works great. Another good reader is newsgator however I believe there’s a charge for it.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Another vote for Google Reader from me. I don’t know how it compares to other readers feature-wise, as I’ve only just gotten into the whole RSS thing (and I’m completely addicted, I’ve got 60+ feeds subscribed to now, and if I come across a new website that doesn’t have a feed, I feel really put-out and disappointed…), but I’ve found it incredibly easy to use. Clean and fast interface, plenty of ability to customise feed grouping and sorting, and the ubiquitous Google search box (which is insanely useful in digging up old news items you read and now can’t remember).
As I say, I haven’t used any other reader, but Google Reader is fantastic, and I highly recommend it regardless.
October 9th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I have tried many RSS feeders and settled on WIZZ RSS feeder. It is a Firefox attachment. I like it because it installs on the toolbar and you just click a button and it opens a little sidebar that doesn’t interfere with your current screen in the browser. You can see what has updated and click a new entry which then appears on the screen. I prefer this one over the ones that take you to a separate webpage to see the feeds.
October 9th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I will have to add my vote for Google Reader. I like Bloglines, but Google have really got it right with this one:)
Your blog looks perfect in it, for example;)))
October 9th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I get by with MS IE7’s built-in RSS features.
October 9th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Hi BA,
I’m not sure if you’re a Mac users or a Windows user so this may be of no use to you. On the Mac I am a massive devotee of NetNewWire. It’s got a simple and slick interface, it synchronises with NewsGator so you can get it at your feeds online when you’re on the go and can run it on multiple machines which all stay nicely in sync. To me it’s the closest to heaven an RSS aggregator can get.
Bart.
October 9th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I used to use RSS Bandit, but it stopped working with several feed, is updated very infrequently, and bogs down with memory depending on how many feeds you subscribed to. So I switched to Google Reader and I haven’t looked back … one feature I love is that it dynamically updates so if a new item comes in the link that it came in will glow yellow for a second … very useful!
FieldMedic
October 9th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I use Thunderbird’s RSS feature. Works great, the RSS feeds come in just like e-mail.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I also use Google Reader (iGoogle, wonder where they got that idea?) I had used NewsFox but started having trouble adding new feeds. So I went back to tried and trusty. I liked it because being web-based, I can use it from anyone of my 3 pc’s without having to wade through and re-mark entries as read.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I use http://feedeachother.com. Like any other reader, but with social features–you can share what you’re reading with your friends and they can share their stuff with you.
I should also mention here that I helped build it. But it’s worth checking out! Honest.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Had just seen Google Reader, seems fine. It does the job like every other aggregator.
But I use Opera, the web browser; it also works as an aggregator. Opera rocks!
October 9th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I’ll buck the trend. I use SharpReader. It works for me without a load of bells and whistles that I’m not interested in.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
A voice of dissent. I’m not a fan of Google Reader.
I use NetNewsWire on my Mac, and NewsGator Online elsewhere.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
A voice of dissent.
I use NetNewsWire as a Mac-based reader, and have it setup to sync to NewsGator’s online RSS reader. I prefer both of them to Google Reader.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I use Liferea on my OpenSuSE 10.2 box… Linux and Liferea FTW!
Penguin Power
P.S.: Yahoo’s aggregator is borderline decent too.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
I use Liferea on my OpenSuSE 10.2 box… Linux and Liferea rule!
Penguin Power
P.S.: Yahoo’s aggregator is borderline decent too.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Google Reader, for sources. I still use Bloglines for personal blogs, but Google Reader can be displayed on my home page. I don’t know about importing your existing feeds, but finding a feed at Google Reader is SO simple, I mean really, Google knows how to do a search. You don’t have to have the URLs or paste anything at all. So far, its worked beautifully.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I’ll put my vote in for the Sage plug-in for Firefox. I don’t always want to sign in to various applications… then again, I haven’t looked at Google Reader, and it sounds like it’s worth a shot.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Phil,
I have been there, Google, Bloglines, etc., I have tried them all. Then, I tried FeedDemon and I have never looked back. Try it, it is like the best RSS reader I have seen.
http://reviews.cnet.com/news-rss/feeddemon-2/4505-10088_7-32106950.html?tag=lst
October 9th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Google Reader.
How about posting a list of what to subscribe to.
Thanks.
Ron
October 9th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Count me in as another vote for Google Reader!
October 9th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
I use Akregator (for KDE on Linux). Works very, very well. You can edit the command it uses to open the full thread in a tab so that it renders it with Firefox.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I’m still using old BlogLines. Make sure you are using http://www.bloglines.com not beta.bloglines.com when logging in.
I tried Google Reader when Bloglines stopped updating for awhile. I hated it. It imported my OPML just fine. But as far as trying to read feeds, I found it extremely non-intuitive to mark a folder as read, or preventing myself from re-reading stuff that I had already scrolled by. The beta Bloglines seemed to be trying to clone this, and after leaving a rather scathing feedback about what I absolutely hated about it, they’ve fixed those. But I still prefer the old Bloglines. And that’s what I was using when I read this.
I’ve currently got 1001 feeds right now. It used to be higher, and evidently some feeds have gone 404 or something. I can only remember getting rid of one feed in the past months.
And if it was something I was actually running on my machine, I’d be in a real hurt right now. MY machine is currently sitting across from me with the PS stripped out of it awaiting the return of a new/repaired/refurbished PS from New Egg. As it is, I’m doing a remote terminal connection to my old machine that I have setup for my kids. 2.4GHZ, 3 GB memory versus the 800MHZ and 128MB of the laptop I’m actually typing on. So I’m glad I’m being able to keep up online.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Another vote for NetNewsWire.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
9 sets of live bookmarks in firefox.
I find I don’t need my feeds to be aggregated – it’s a quick mouseover the bookmarks and I can see what’s new.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Firefox’s Sage reader. Works fine for me.
What does Google have that Sage doesn’t?
October 9th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I only have 9 live bookmarks because I’ve only ever found 9 RSS feeds that were interesting enough to bother reading on a regular basis. This blog is one of them.
The others are: Google Earth Hacks, Order of the Stick, Astronomy Cast, four friends’ blogs, and the report feed for Earthquakes Canada.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:27 am
I use Sage with Firefox at the office and NetNewsWire at home on my Macintosh.
My only beef with Sage is that when you ask it to open an item, it always opens it in the topmost browser window. This means that if you open up a blog entry and then because it takes a while you decide to look at something else, the something else gets wiped out as soon as Sage finally opens up, even if you’re in a different window from the one you were in when you asked Sage to look at something (does that make sense?).
NetNewsWire is lovely when it works but has the habit of crashing at random about once a week. No long-term negative effects from same, though.
Might take a look at Google Reader due to the groundswell of support here.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:21 am
I use the feed reader in Mozilla Thunderbird it is great, loads quickly and the best thing is that Thunderbird is a great email client too, the two are joined together making reading my emails, from various accounts(uni and personal) and all my blogs very convenient!
October 10th, 2007 at 5:37 am
I use Thunderbird… It presents the blogs/posts as email. I like it that way. Never tried Google reader, but Thunderbird does the job fine for me.
October 10th, 2007 at 7:31 am
I’ve got to put a vote in for FeedGhost. It has great search and tagging facilities and can either use the Outlook style of reading or the Google style.
The great thing is that it synchronises across different computers. The company are also working on an online version as well.
Take a look at http://www.feedghost.com
Simon
October 10th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Google Reader definately.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:28 am
The ability for me to get my feeds from any computer no matter where I am.
I’m sometimes on my work computer, sometimes on my home computer, sometimes on a different computer altogether. All I have to do is log in to Google and there are my feeds and my settings. You can get the Google Reader Notifier addon for Firefox and have notification of new posts from Firefox as well.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:02 am
but Google is the Evil that M$ was in the 90s! or going there fast …
If you use Thunderbird for Emails anyway, use the Feedreader in there, it’s really nice.
Opera has a nice aggregator, too, although on my platform (sparc-linux) it leaks memory, so I can’t use it.
Currently I use akregator (KDE) for the few blogs that have relevant pictures as part of their content and not just text.
For pure text-content blogs (i.e. where I ignore the pictures), I prefer newsbeuter. ncurses-interface, fast, nice, cool, the way I want it in my screen-session between mutt, abook, slrn, irssi and elinks.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:30 am
I am ok with Google reader, I tried it after all the talk here, and it worked for like a day, but it seems like it doesn’t really catch updates quickly. For instance, it still does not have the latest post on BA up on my account. Its bothering me, because I feel like I need to go check all the sites anyway.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Thadd,
Some sites don’t do immediate RSS updates the instant a new post goes up, and the aggregators themselves don’t scan the sites every 10 seconds for new posts. I think it’s really more of the first than the second, because I have some sites show up more quickly than others. It seems especially true for sites who run their feeds through a service like FeedBurner, because then FeedBurner has to update their feed for the site from the site’s original feed before it gets aggregated to feed readers.
How it affects you I guess really depends on how many sites you keep up with. I’m currently subscribed to 55 feeds. Some I just scan for stuff that catches my eye, some I read every word on. If I tried to keep up with 55 sites the old fashioned way, I’d never do anything else.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:50 am
That might be the reason, but its certainly strange that for whatever reason, I have not gotten an RSS update from digg in over four hours.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I use, as a couple others have mentioned, Opera for my feeds. Don’t know how to export the feeds themselves as that would have been helpful when I got a new computer.
Whatever you choose, Phil, I’m sure you’ll love.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I use Google Reader within Firefox. It’s nice because in either Firefox or Opera you can use custom css to make it look however you want, and google reader can be forced into a secure connection at https://www.google.com/reader/view .
And since I started using it and getting into feeds, it’s never gone down.
October 10th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
this IS timely.
I’d gotten tired of using my browser to read the various (5 ) Blogs I pay any attention to. So, for the past week or so, I’ve been yutzing around with RSS readers.
Of course, there are dozens and dozens for Windows and Mac each… and a few for Linux.
I’m afraid I rather skimped on searching and testing the Windows readers. None was appealing “out of the box”. Long story… less long, I focused on the Mac.
After a week, I can say I’ve focused it down to three possibilities. NetNewsWire, Vienna, and Shrook. At this point, it’s come down to esthetics, and how well *I* interface with *it* – that is, pure personal preference. Each is fast, easy to use, imports feeds (Shrook will not only import from OPML, but directly from NetNewsWire- a nice touch). The others lost out because they were klunky, slow (Google Reader, oddly, was very slow for me), or so old as to be lacking in what might be termed as “standard features”
yeah, I’m a day late, and a dollar ($1.24 in Boulder) short. But I like airing my opinions as well as the next guy – and I can occasionally use somebody’s blog for it.
October 10th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Write your own in php!
I used MagpieRSS: RSS for PHP (http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/) to write my own. If you want to know what it looks like:
http://www.carlrobitaille.org/rssfeeds/
Carl
October 10th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
After reading all the comments here, I went and tried Google Reader for a couple of days – and promptly went back to Bloglines. I found Google reader to be slow to use, fairly messy to look at, and not as clean and easy to use as Bloglines. Just my 2c.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I dunno, EvilBob. It isn’t really slow to me. The design problems, however, are easily fixed with the “better greader” firefox extension or using the Stylish extension, one of many stylesheets available from User Styles. But like I pointed out above, one of it’s main benefits is that you can force a secure connection (even the blog sharing widget). Also, you can export an opml file of all your feeds to use on other services.
October 11th, 2007 at 12:49 am
Though you’ve already updated the post to say that you’ll be trying Google Reader, I’d like to also cast a vote for it, anyway.
I’ve tried various online aggregators (including BlogLines), but none of them worked as well for me as Google Reader, since I keep track of 150+ different feeds. I suppose that I just never noticed the delay that some people are complaining about because I don’t always check my feeds at the same time everyday, plus I’ve got quite a few, so it doesn’t affect me all that much.
On top of that, I’m constantly switching between computers (including a few that have DeepFreeze installed) so having everything online is a must. If I run into a better aggregator, I’ll definitely switch, but there’s not one at the moment that works as well for me.
Go for Google Reader, BA!
October 11th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Netvibes is the way to go. You can use it from any PC without having to install any blogreader software.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Same w/ google reader, mick. It’s web-based, and even has an offline version now, with the reader tool thing.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Bloglines Beta is much better than the baseline bloglines… I’ll have to check out Google Reader though.