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The Search For The Best RSS Reader

Cranky old man voice: In my day, we didn't have RSS readers. We had the Web, and if you wanted to see if there was something new on your favorite web sites, you'd go call them up one by one, and see if anything looked different. That's the way we liked it!

Fortunately, we've come a long way.

I've been a fan of web-based RSS readers for a while now. Dynamically pulling the latest news from all my favorite sites into a single interface is a terrific productivity enhancement. And, as opposed to PC-based feed readers, I can access them anytime, from any computer.

But lately I've had trouble with Bloglines, my usual feed home. So I started to survey the field for alternatives. Well, one thing led to another, and now we've posted my slide show on the pluses and minuses of sixteen browser- and web-based RSS feed readers.

After trying out all these alternatives, here's what I'd recommend:

For watching a single feed, use Safari (coming soon to Windows), or the live bookmarks in Firefox or IE, and you'll be set.

To create your own customized home page, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live are good choices, but you may want to try out lesser-known apps like Pageflakes and Netvibes. (I've used a customized Excite home page for years--the TV listings are great--but Excite still doesn't support adding RSS feeds. Come on!)

For heavyweight feed management, NewsGator can be a little slow, and Bloglines has trouble loading some feeds, but both are worth a try. NewsIsFree's News Map is definitely worth a look.

But if you have dozens--or hundreds--of feeds to keep track of, I'd have to give the prize to Google Reader. Like most things Google, it's fast, compact and efficient.

Oh, and when you've chosen a reader, do visit our RSS page and sign up for a few good feeds.

Posted by Joe Caponi at 05:06 PM, November 15, 2007

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By Joe Caponi
Managing Editor, Operations, ChannelWeb

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