Tech bleg: Help me find a new RSS reader, I beseech you
posted at 7:50 pm on October 10, 2007 by Allahpundit
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
My job depends on it, literally. I started out with RSS Bandit, which is freeware, but the damned thing started to choke on all my feeds until it got to the point where the application would barely load. I switched to NewzCrawler and that went fine until one day the system crashed and I couldn’t open the application at all any more. Uninstalling, reinstalling, before and after a disk defragmentation — none of it worked. The sucker was well and truly dead.
I decided to take that as my opportunity to switch from standalone readers to browser-based readers and have now settled, uncomfortably, on Google Reader. It works fine, if you don’t mind the fact that it only looks for new posts once an hour or so. That’s way too long for me; I need one like Bandit or NewzCrawler that can be customized to check every 15 minutes, but from what I can tell the other browser-based readers like Bloglines and Rojo are both stuck with fixed periods. I’ve considered switching back to a standalone reader, the obvious candidate for which would be Feed Demon. But try as I might, I can’t figure out how to customize Feed Demon to let me view all new posts by category. That is to say, whereas in Google Reader I can put all my blog feeds into one folder called “Blogs” and then view all the new posts from all the blogs in that folder that have recently updated on one screen, Feed Demon appears to force you to check each updated feed individually. Or am I missing something?
My requirements, then: 15-minute update times, with all new posts in category viewable simultaneously, and ideally browser-based instead of standalone. Any recommendations? Please?
Update: I’m hearing good things in the comments about Omea reader.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
I use Netvibes and I love it to death.
Number 2 on October 10, 2007 at 7:55 PM
Try Bradbury Software’s Feed Demon – version 1.5 – not the newer release. see http://www.bradsoft.com/
USCitizen on October 10, 2007 at 7:55 PM
If you find one, let me know. I’ve been going through this list, to know avail.
amerpundit on October 10, 2007 at 7:56 PM
know=no
amerpundit on October 10, 2007 at 7:56 PM
If you use Firefox, there is an extension called NewsFox. I started using it just last week, and it’s doing well so far.
AtomicAmish on October 10, 2007 at 8:01 PM
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=newsfox&status=4
AtomicAmish on October 10, 2007 at 8:04 PM
Bloglines is the BEST!!! I’ve been using it without a hitch.
pjcomix on October 10, 2007 at 8:05 PM
What do you use to update your site? If you aren’t using Joomla, you might give that a look. It has a lot of different modules.
Asher on October 10, 2007 at 8:06 PM
Allah
Run don’t walk and download JetBrains Omea Reader.
You can set the poll interval (I cover 300 blogs and poll every 15 minutes)
It fully indexes all the posts and the search function is lightning fast.
You can research web pages in your browser and use their added tool bar to add new RSS feeds on the fly and also you can highlight text on a web page and from the tool bar clip and save the highlighted portion to the categories you designate and create a new category on the fly if it did not prior exist. Also it automatically saves the URL of the page you clipped so you don’t forget to do it on a busy hunt.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:07 PM
Omea Pro 2.2 replaces tools like your Email Organizer, Desktop Search Utility, RSS Reader, Personal Information Manager, Newsgroup Reader, Task Manager, Contact Manager, Bookmark Manager, and Instant Message History Manager. It can also read your Files in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat, and view your Pictures, in one Integrated Information Environment.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:08 PM
If an RSS feed entry is sent out short summary form from the feed you can view the original page in the reader itself or double click on the item list entry and it will open the blog in a new tab in firefox.
I can manually force a poll from the omea reader itself and since I have mine set to only download the post and not the comments it walks through 300 blogs in under a minute when it updates.
For example right now I have about 140 unread items, but I search on SCHIP and it instantly popped up the list of 30 posts related to it.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:15 PM
You can set up your http://www.live.com page all personalized with a whole bunch of RSS feeds on it. It’ll be available on any computer right through the browser and is backed by the powerhouse that is Microsoft.
askheaves on October 10, 2007 at 8:17 PM
Only about 3% of the blogs I follow send out short form summaries.
It will show graphics in the feed but I haven’t configured it up to support flash and such tech.
If I need that I will simply open the originating blog. Much simpler.
It will follow embedded links in the post if you click them.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:18 PM
You can clip and save from the reader itself or your browser.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:18 PM
I don’t know if you’re using Mac or PC, but on the Mac, I use NewsFire, and it has all the features you mention. I have found the tech support to be wanting, however. It is a brilliant, intuitive program, nonetheless. I love it.
nailinmyeye on October 10, 2007 at 8:19 PM
I programmed my own RSS reader in C# but it’snot ready for prime time.
VinceP1974 on October 10, 2007 at 8:22 PM
I don’t use RSS readers, but isn’t NewsGator what the cool kids use?
http://www.newsgator.com/
Okay, the “cool kids” I’m sure use Google, but seriously, I think Newsgator is one of the big dogs… No clue on the update times and category sorting abilities though.
RightWinged on October 10, 2007 at 8:25 PM
Didn’t I tell you to stop nagging her about that damn i-Phone?
RedWinged Blackbird on October 10, 2007 at 8:26 PM
Clipping categories are a tree structure defined by you.
Blog categories are a tree structure defined by you.
Each new blog feed you choose where in the tree it goes and each one is sorted in alphabetical order.
You have counters showing all unreads for today yesterday this week last week this month and last month and unread.
click one of them and that is the scope of items in the selector list.
Also it shows how many items are in each tree member
I in parallel work with the reader with over 300 blogs and about 100 frequent read blogs on my firefox live toolbar.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:27 PM
ALLAH…
Your first step should be to switch to a Mac. Make that a priority! The apps available to you will be more useful and utilitarian; crashing will be a distant memory.
And do one more thing: Get Michelle to pay for it… Recommend the new MacbookPro. Get thee to Apple promptly!
IntheNet on October 10, 2007 at 8:28 PM
Here’s a screen shot of the program I made
http://home.comcast.net/~vincep312/rssprogm.png
It integrates with Windows Vista / IE7 RSS API.
VinceP1974 on October 10, 2007 at 8:31 PM
If you select a time frame from the Views window you see only items in the selection list that fit that timeframe if you select a tree of your feeds item then you see only the items in the list related to that tree subset.
So for example if I click the feed member named NewsPaper Blogs I will only see them.
If I select Duke Case that is all I will see.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:34 PM
Another nice feature is that in the list newest items are at the top or bottom your choosing.
Also it handles near midnight posts from other timezones by putting them in the future list because their time is ahead of yours.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:36 PM
Not one person has suggested Google Reader. It’s the best. Much better than Newsgator (awful) or Bloglines (cumbersome). The only caveat is that it usually takes a full hour for google to spider your thread…
tele64 on October 10, 2007 at 8:39 PM
I’ve been reasonably happy with Snarfer, and it does everything you say that you need, but now I’m going to have to look into that Omea Reader myself, because if it does half of what you guys say that it will, then I have myself a new reader.
Misha I on October 10, 2007 at 8:42 PM
Just checked there are 176 blog entries that include the word Iphone.
Ducking under the desk now!
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 8:50 PM
I like Wizz Rss, it does the job for me. I am using ver. 2.1.9 with Firefox 2.0.0.1 and it runs great.
PHKing on October 10, 2007 at 8:52 PM
It’s an off-line reader, and there is a nagging bug with the filter feature, but I swear by SharpReader.
steveegg on October 10, 2007 at 8:59 PM
OK, I just installed Omea Reader, and I’m sold. It makes every other reader I’ve ever tried (and I’ve tried quite a few) look like a flint axe.
Misha I on October 10, 2007 at 9:02 PM
Should I infer it won’t work with XP or that you don’t know?
Dusty on October 10, 2007 at 9:04 PM
Would you say that someone who has never used RSS could figure it out? Oh and did you do dl just the reader or the Pro. which is also free (caveat: must register for a license key with Pro, whatever that is).
Dusty on October 10, 2007 at 9:08 PM
I have never used an RSS feed. I’ve heard all about them, but I don’t understand them. Like I said, I used to be cutting edge, but now I’m sweeping up the elephant dung at the circus.
The whole web 2.0 thing is still new to me. I need to catch up and fast. Social bookmarking, RSS feeds, php, I know they are important. . . but I’m just now starting on the blogs so I’m about 2 years behind.
I was cutting edge when keyword density, link text, title and description tags, page link structure, article submissions, press releases were new and exciting a few years back.
I’ll catch back up eventually. I just gotta get off my butt.
ThackerAgency on October 10, 2007 at 9:14 PM
If you use Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express), you can get a plugin called NewsGator Inbox which allows you to sort feeds into Outlook folders.
It costs about 30 bucks and you can get it here.
I used it for several years without problems.
crosspatch on October 10, 2007 at 9:14 PM
I use FireFox’s Sage plug-in… sage.mozdev.org
Skywise on October 10, 2007 at 9:16 PM
I just got the Reader, but it has a lot more functions than “just” a reader. Which leads to your first question: It might be a bit overwhelming for a first time user. Not because the reader part is all that complicated, but because of the sheer number of options. If you’ve been able to use SharpReader or Snarfer without trouble in the past, however, it shouldn’t be a problem. Just install and start playing with it (and export your old feed subscriptions from your old reader, if you have one, to an OPML file. Omea will import them as easy as one-two-three. Also, if you’ve been using Bloglines or SharpReader, Omea will import the subscriptions from there directly if you ask it to).
It also imports your bookmarks from your browser, lets you browse the web, reads newsgroups and indexes it all for easy search (which leads to a downside if you’re running out of space, because it asks for 500Mb of space for that).
I don’t know. If you’re a beginning user and just want to read feeds, Snarfer has been really good for me. SharpReader isn’t bad either. You can always “upgrade” later if you want.
Misha I on October 10, 2007 at 9:22 PM
Misha
Trust me you will love it as your reader database builds.
I have about 6 months of data right now and searches pop up instantly after I hit the return key due to the full indexing.
I don’t tout software like I am this one unless it really shines.
I agree it beats all the others hands down even in the free version.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 9:23 PM
Why not use the RSS reader native to IE7? It updates constantly and you can easily organize it like favorites. Even MS Outlook now handles RSS feeds just like new emails. Its what I use for all of my feeds and it hasn’t let me down.
The only drawback is it doesnt port from one PC to another easily.
BelchSpeak on October 10, 2007 at 9:26 PM
I use NewsFire for OS X if anyone is interested in something for the Mac…
Canerican on October 10, 2007 at 9:28 PM
Try this
or try Feedraider if your in a jam.
I can whip you up a custom job with simplepie on your server or mine!
186k on October 10, 2007 at 9:39 PM
Basically an RSS feed is used by the reader program and access the content of the blog post.
It grabs only that. None of the rest of the blog like advertisements , header graphics and all the other clutter.
A very few sites only send the first paragraph or so, but 98% send the whole text of the post on the blog.
Some also offer a seperate RSS feed for the comments on the blog.
By just downloading the text of the blog post it is blazingly fast compared to loading the blog page itself. Also it means that the amount of information stored on your hard drive is much less.
I follow about 300 blogs and on each 15 minute (my setting of choice I can pick whatever I want) I get about 40 new messages on an average poll of the blogs.
You can easily run through them for a quick scan of content in under a couple minutes.
A much more efficient way of working.
Also with the search and tagging functions you can always find the blog post you were trying to remember where you saw some info on you want to quote as long as you can spec a word or two to search for that is in the post.
For research it can’t be beat.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 9:48 PM
With Omea Reader you can also save an entire web page and attach notes to the page and category tags as well.
CommentGuy on October 10, 2007 at 9:53 PM
Wizz Rss reader for Firefox is very nice as well.
186k on October 10, 2007 at 9:56 PM
[Misha I on October 10, 2007 at 9:22 PM]
Thanks, Misha. I appreciate it. I’ll try one of the latter two to get my feet wet.
Dusty on October 10, 2007 at 9:59 PM
What’s nice about WizzRss is that it gives you an instant search option through your favorites/bookmarks
186k on October 10, 2007 at 9:59 PM
I haven’t found a web-based RSS reader I like yet…and I’ve tried a LOT of them.
I use FeedReader and have for the past couple of years and have never had an issue. It’s stand-alone, but I like it.
ConBlog_NH on October 10, 2007 at 10:23 PM
I’m a bit clueless sometimes, but I could never actually make Wizz work.
I installed NewsFox as recommended above by AtomicAmish on October 10, 2007 at 8:01 PM and Voila! Cool.
peski on October 10, 2007 at 11:02 PM
A great standalone, Klipfolio. Very easy to use and very customizable. Don’t waste your time on browser based…way too slow!
Right Tracker on October 10, 2007 at 11:03 PM
Allah
Like others have stated, if you use Firefox 2, you get the RSS reader built in, which can be staged on the Bookmarks Toolbar, and every feed appears in a nifty pull-down menu. It’s what I normally use.
If you have to use IE, I suggest using Diodia – download the RSS toolbar feeds, and stage it on your browser. After that, go to feeds, and manage which sites you want feeds from, and how many headlines do you want showing up.
Downsides:
- All the feeds appear in a single list, so that if you’ve been subscribing to say, 5 websites, and 1 of them has been updating every few minutes (like hotair), the site that has been updated most frequently and most recently will appear, drowning out the others;
- ATOM format feeds are not supported, and these guys aren’t doing anything new at the moment;
As a result, with IE, you don’t have too many good options. My suggestion – if you aren’t too married to IE, use FireFox 2, or if you prefer, Netscape 9 (which is essentially FireFox 2 but with the Netscape brand, and supports all Firefox extensions excepting Themes).
Hope this helped
infidelpride on October 10, 2007 at 11:13 PM
Belchspeak
The RSS reader native to IE7 is crippled – it’s only of use if one is okay with having the screen clipped at the side. I personally hate it, since one has to not only keep it open, but keep opening the sites to see what’s updated. Firefox or Netscape, OTOH, allow you to use your bookmarks toolbar as the staging ground for the RSS sites, so that you can have, say, hotair on the top, and when you click on it, you get a pull-down menu of all the headlines. Do a refresh, and you’ll see the updates.
World of difference.
infidelpride on October 10, 2007 at 11:17 PM
NETVIBES
http://www.netvibes.com/
dm60462 on October 10, 2007 at 11:32 PM
GRITWIRE
http://my.gritwire.com/
dm60462 on October 10, 2007 at 11:33 PM
Yeah, I just have to concur, Netvibes is extremely cool.
Ken McCracken on October 11, 2007 at 12:10 AM
I am surprised you haven’t tried out Thunderbird. It is more than just an email client.
zerodamage on October 11, 2007 at 12:22 AM
I’m a Wizz RSS reader so I’ll second or third that recommendation. It’s simple. It works well for the majority of papers to which I subscribe (Always have problems with the London Times feeds though).
Truth is it was the first one I tried based solely on the positive ratings. Can’t honestly compare it…but it works.
John on October 11, 2007 at 1:30 AM
AP,
I have FeedDemon on a Windows-based laptop. You do not have to check the feeds individually. Just select a folder or group. You’ll see every new item from all the subscriptions in that group.
paul006 on October 11, 2007 at 1:46 AM
I would configure half a dozen solid web-based readers like Bloglines with the same set of feeds and keep them all open. So you probably will have a quite good update rhythm on the whole and you won’t ever be stuck when one of them is down.
I always thought that Allah was already using a Mac. No?
ajm on October 11, 2007 at 2:09 AM
Omea reader is the best I have seen, but it does get an occasional bug that forces you to resubscribe to one site or another. Recently they made the pro version free as well, which some people take as a sign that JetBrains has lost interest in further development. But who knows? Anyhow, in terms of raw functionality it is hard to beat.
Herikutsu on October 11, 2007 at 2:48 AM
NetNewsWire Pro for OS X kicks all sorts of ass. If I were to go back to Windows or Linux as my primary OS, I’d probably be using Bloglines or Google Reader — but I haven’t checked out Windows feed readers in 2+ years.
Mark Jaquith on October 11, 2007 at 4:03 AM
If you download the Pro version at the top right of the product page you need to click the link that says get pro for free to take you to the page that will generate a product key for you.
Copy and paste it somewhere so you can enter it when installing the software.
For most the pro version will be overkill unless you use tasks and outlook email (not express) heavily, and you want to index all your correspondence in Office and Documents and such.
For just research the basic version has plenty of power.
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 4:47 AM
I downloaded Omea Reader, and managed to crash it within 30 minutes. Probably my fault, I’m demanding on applications…
One major flaw with Omea Reader is OR’s dependance on IE. I can’t stand IE, and hold my nose anytime it’s running. That means I’m now seeing ads that would have been blocked, I have to reconfigure the IE cookie handling procedures…hmmmph.
Google Reader behaves itself well enough, and is right at home in Firefox.
Serr8d on October 11, 2007 at 8:52 AM
Try downloading Apple’s Safari browser for Windows – it has a built-in RSS reader.
PJ Emeritus on October 11, 2007 at 11:03 AM
Ever try Greatnews?
http://www.curiostudio.com/
i think it fits all your needs. It’s nice you can even set it up to color code the feeds so each time silky is mentioned you can have the blog post colored pink (sorry, I could not resist).
It is stand alone though, but i think it’s feature warrent that
LordDaMan on October 11, 2007 at 12:03 PM
Tried Omea, given the abundant advertising above, crashed it twice, will stick w/ Bloglines.
Kim Hartveld on October 14, 2007 at 6:17 AM
Comment pages: