The offline thing is a dealbreaker for me. If I'm online, then I probably have better things to be doing than reading news all day. But if I'm not online (during my daily train ride in to work), then what better time to catch up? Imagine it like downloading video, versus streaming it. In one case you get it, take it with you, and watch where you want. In the other, you have to be at a certain place and a certain time. Which would you prefer? Last time I checked, ipod sales were doing just fine. Online solutions mean less flexibility.

Duane
[www.commutesmarter.com]

Duane

Gotta stick with Google Reader. Allows me to keep up with my feeds on my mac, PC, and most importantly, my iPhone.

nocturne1

For me, it's desktop-based Mindity (with many social-networking features): [www.mindity.com]

kostik_y2k

I use Bloglines to keep my feeds synced between multiple computers, and for its mobile interface.

acurrie

@karstetter: Agreed... you've got the manual refresh option which I couldn't live without on those particularly dead days at the office.

justjack75

I don't see the point of using an email program or a separate application for RSS feeds (Peeve: a newsreader is a program for Usenet newsgroups, and has been since the 1980s). It makes much more sense for RSS to be integrated into the browser.

I used to use the Firefox Sage extension, which put feeds in the sidebar, but now I use RSS Ticker, which, as the name implies, creates a ticker across the top of the window. I just look up every few minutes to see if there's anything interesting, and click on it if there is.

SeanOHara

I've gotta go with my desktop solution for the speed. After a day of feeds coming in, I'll oftentimes have 3-400 items that I like to scroll through very quickly picking out only what I like. I attempted Google Reader and it just wasn't near fast enough to get through these.

brutimus

Netvibes all the way!

karstetter

I second KMT. The convenience of having work mail, Feeds (and Gmail too, through IMAP) in one application is unbeatable for me. With Gmail UI installed, you get the easy search advantages of Google Reader, and quite a few of the other advantages are already available in it.

LordThanatos

Speed is what keeps me from web-based. I can't stand having to wait the browser load everytime.

Victor V.

Hmm. I've only tried (and do like) Thunderbird. It seems sufficient for my needs, though it appears the others mentioned above have a few more features. Unless, of course, these features are there in TB and I just haven't discovered them yet...

KMT

Funny, just after I type my initial comment above I decided to look through preferences again in NNW and low-and-behold I was able to turn of the 'switch to new window/tab' feature.. So I guess I will give it another try again.. It's web cousin works great as well..

funkright

No matter what I do or software I try, I keep coming back to bloglines.

I like to go through the feeds and open up the linked articles in seperate tabs (but not switch to them until I am done reading the feeds themselves) via the Apple key * mouse click (this opens up in a seperate tab, but does not switch to it yet).

Once I have gone through the update RSS feeds I then view the tabs, from initially opened tab until the last one I chose to launch from the RSS feed. No other newsreader (desktop software does this for me).

I would love to use the now free NNW (but if I click to open a link it puts me in the new window, and I don't want to go there yet), but my way of using RSS has gotten addictive for me now..

funkright

I prefer google reader since many blogs I subscribe to only show part of the article, or sites like Giz and Lifehacker that oftentimes feature other sites to check out. It's too much of a burden to wait for firefox to turn on whenever I want to check out a link. I also love being able to check it on any computer (like the one at work), and being able to put it up on my igoogle page. I don't use a laptop so offline reading isn't that interesting to me.

Btw, thanks to Lifehacker, I've been inspired to start a new blog that chronicles the specific Windows tweaks I've implemented into my system (a lot of them because of Autohotkey!), and seeing which new apps I've tried and decided to ditch!

[greasypc.blogspot.com]

greasypigstudios

Google Reader, but I have nothing pithy to say about it.

cameron_penn

I love having Apple Mail deal with my feeds. I waste less time because I don't get drawn into reading comment threads and commenting myself (yeah, okay, so I'm breaking that rule here). Just opening up the browser is enough to get me into that endless loop of reloading to check for new content, whereas I trust Mail to pick up new feed items just as it picks up new emails. Then I can just scan new items, the same way as I scan new emails.

It's all psychological, really. The way Mail deals with it works for me, because I don't automatically see new items unless I click on the feed. (I see at a glance that there are new items, but not what they are.) That way I don't get instantly distracted - which is what would happen when I used Google Reader. But when I want to take a work break and check my blogs, it's easy for me to very quickly scan through all the new posts.

The other way I prevent myself from wasting time with feeds: set the default browser to Firefox, install LeechBlock, and take Safari out of the dock. That way if I try to click through from the feed item to the actual website, I get denied. Having to go into Applications, fire up Safari, and bring up the item in question (even by c/ping the link), is just enough extra trouble to make me say "Forget it" and go back to work. If it was truly that important and interesting that I need to revisit it, I put it in my iGTD list and go back to it later. Yes, internet-induced expectations of instant gratification can be used for good!

snowmentality

I go with online: Google Reader. I can't stand to miss stuff. If I subscribe to a feed, I want to see every little thing that comes through. A desktop feed reader would need to be running 24/7 on my local computer to catch it all. That and the fact that I can read my stuff from any computer (home, work, in-laws, internet cafe...) make a web-based reader a must for me.

Dustin L.

@karstetter: I second Netvibes. I've been using it for a little over a year now and it's great. Does what it's supposed to do with little extra fluff.

neuralien

FeedDemon and NewsGator Online is the best of both worlds. I get all the features of a desktop reader (FeedDemon) when I'm at my usual PC, but can access the same feeds from anywhere with NewsGator Online. The NewsGator folks have thoughtfully built in synchronization so if I mark something read in one reader, it updates the other.

rorywohl

I just want newsfeeds grouped together by general topic, with the headlines for a particular topic intermingled by date. NewsFire was the first one I found that did that, so that's what I use.

TommySez

I've been going back and forth on this one myself. Vienna for a while, then NetNewsWire once it turned free, and now I'm back to Google Reader. I'll take the Reader myself, because I'm rarely without connectivity and I subscribe to a number of music podcasts, so the inline streaming is a big convenience for me.

Remixer96

I tried out FeedDemon, and I could not STAND the layout. It made me feel like I was reading work emails instead of feeds. I tried all the different theme styles, but none of them worked for me. The only one I liked refused to let me sort by date, so the most recent item was on top.

Right now I use Google Reader in List View, so all of the new articles are in a list. I can see the Feed name, Title, and the first part of the post. If I have more than a few different feeds to read, I go by subscription. For example, I click "Lifehacker", and then I skim down the 20 items in the list. If the title and description catch my interest, it gets read; if not, I move on to the next. When I get to the bottom, I click "Mark All As Read" and then I move on to the next subscription. FeedDemon couldn't provide me the same experience.

jaredharley

One big question for me is which newsreaders, desktop or web allow for authorized feeds. People using sites like LJ and similar and SOL when it comes to using most online readers because they don't have an option to authenticate for specific feeds.

urban bohemian

Love Google Reader. I've tried Outlook, Vienna, NetNewsWire, Newsgator, and a few others. Nothing comes close. For me the killer feature is having items being marked "as read" as I scroll. Saves me so much time and is the closest to how I would actually scan a newspaper.

rkcrawf

There's a third option, too: Site-specific browsers. Using SSBs like Mozilla's cross-platform Prism, you can have the interface multi-machine convenience of the webapps with the OS integration of the desktop apps.

For my part, I'm on a Mac, so I use Fluid, which looks a little more Mac-like (requires Leopard). I use it mostly for Google Reader, so that I can keep my personal reading separate from the webthings I have to do for work, for which I need a fully capable browser.

Obviously, the developers of both programs explain better the advantages of SSBs and how they function within an OS. And of course, LH has had a writeup of each.

devan

I keep Sage synced among my computers simply by syncing my bookmarks with Google Browser sync, and pointing Sage to the bookmark folder I named RSS

jeffk

I work from too many computers to use desktop apps easily

I hate the slowness of most web uis, but i've not got a good work around yet.

Joe

Joe.Andersen

Omea. Offline, reasonably fast, with bells and whistles that go well beyond FeedDemon, RSSOwl, Newzie, GreatNews, and any other app I've tried. It does have some dumb oversights and some notable shortcomings, but overall it's better than the rest.

The most important features for me are speed, semi-scripted routines, desktop integration, tagging, annotation and display configurability per feed. Half of those features aren't available on any other reader I've seen.

e-tat

Oh, and another useful feature of google reader. See an article you want to view properly, maybe to see comments on or additional information? With Firefox, just hit the v button and it'll open it up in a new tab in the background. Just keep browsing through the articles and when you're ready go back and take a real look at the ones that stood out for you.

SilverStar95

I was using Sage with Firefox, but trying to keep stuff sync'd tween work and home and my Centro sucked. I have been using the beta of Bloglines and really like it. I can view the RSS feed, or open the actual item in a Preview mode - like I am now - so I am able to leave a comment while my blog list is still available on the sidebar when I'm done.

I've barely tried any other readers, on or off-line, so not sure how it compares, but it definitely does what I am looking for. As a bonus, the mobile option works well for access from my Centro. I can even choose which items I want to appear or not appear on the mobile side with a check-box option.

mcnee

I tried sage, but after some issues with it and wikinews(same news article up 80 times, every time there was even a minor edit to the story), I needed something else.

I tried the RSS option in thunderbird, but I already have 5 mail accounts in there and a half dozen usenet groups, so it gets pretty bloody cluttered.

The search and bookmark functions in Google Reader are what do it for me. I've literally used them both no less than a dozen times each. I browse through, see something interesting, then a few days later something comes up in a conversation about something I passed by and I can quickly pull it up.

But, one of the real advantages for me, is if I don't look at the feeds for a couple days, there's no worries. Sure, I might have 2000+ articles to scan through, but with gReader I don't have to worry too much about it. It's there, because it's indexed automatically. Sage is limited to 20 articles per feed, and other feed services tend to only cache 20-50 articles on any given syndication. There's been times when I've had 300+ Gizmodo articles pop up over a day and a half(CES... yeesh!), most of which I'd have lost if they weren't autocached by google.

And another little bonus is that, while I have really poor vision(don't have the cash needed to get an updated prescription for my glasses. Blasted things are over $300/lens), it's no problem for me to sit back in my chair at my computer, increase the text size, and read the articles without having to squint. And when done, just Alt+0 to return to default text size for when I need to really pay attention.

Comfort, ease of use, and the nuances are what made me fall in love with gReader. Only better way is if they offered it as a standalone desktop app, that could sync up with the web version.

SilverStar95

I actually just downloaded feedreader 3.11 for windows today. Spent about an hour visiting my favorite sites to see if they had rss feeds. Im new to rss, so im not sure what the advantage of getting feeds vs just visiting the site is yet. Any RSS guides you guys recommend to help me get caught up? Thanks.

silvanov

I've long used my.yahoo! as my RSS aggregator of choice. What I like is that I can COMMAND-CLICK (apple key) a link or series of links and they load in the background while I continue scrolling down the (LONG) list of sites I follow. Speed of load is not an issue -- I get to them when I get to them.

Since I'm rarely at my machine when NOT near a wifi spot, having them on my dekstop seems less of an issue. And, if I know I'm going to be away from wifi for awhile, I use the above-mentioned system to preload a myriad of tabs which I can read later.

I guess I'll take a look at the desktop system -- esp as it's now free -- but it'll require a huge change in how I currently browse.. not sure my ancient brain can handle that...

gyffes

I don't subscribe to many blogs, and google reader does the job fine for me. I'll usually open it up before I drink a coffee, and sift through everything (if there's a lot of items), or just read it from the iG homepage if there isn't much. Oh, and Jasper's Google Reader subscribe is my preferred way of adding feeds.

LethAL

I am die-hard for Google Reader, except that it doesn't have an offline mobile client for my blackberry, so now I am debating, do I clutter up my life with another app?

akatsuki

I use Sage for Firefox.

It's fast and it puts a lot of info up on screen.

In comparison everything else I've tried feels like I'm using a 14-inch 800x600 CRT monitor.

For example, I can see 21 Lifehacker headlines and 8 articles with opening paragraphs. Plus a dozen or so other sites are one click away.

jeffk

The best reason to use a web reader like Google Reader is that it's updated across multiple computers. When you use 2 computers at work, and two at home, and read feeds on all of them. You want to be sure that you're not reading the same item twice. That reason alone is why I use Google Reader.

Adam B.

I prefer Google Reader, because I use three devices, my desktop, my laptop, and my n800 internet tablet. If I were to use a desktop-based reader that would mean I have to download all feeds to either my laptop or n800 all the time. But with Google Reader I can access them with whatever one I'm using (and Gears offers some offline functionality).

DepressedMan

I am a very low-key RSS-subscriber, so I've only subscribed to 15 specific feeds. Obviously they'd only need checked once a day, and so I've Speed Dialed it, and use Google Reader soon after I finish my email breakfast every morning.

TunaFish

I recently ditched Bloglines for NewsGator (work) and NetNewsWire (home). The web portal for NewsGator is definitely a let down coming from Bloglines, but the ability to sync between work, web and home is what brought me over. Google Reader is tempting, especially their mobile interface, but I find a desktop solution allows me to sift through and read/dismiss articles more quickly. To each his own...

bwv1060b

Windows Live Mail.

marques

Where is the "Both" option in the survey, or am I just an oddity?

LordHumungus

I will stick to desktop-based readers. For one, I could read my feed anywhere I carry my laptop with me, such as while traveling, etc. Second, althought Google Gears enables to view offline content; it has a few problems caching embedded media such as images which point to an external url. So with Google Gears enabled, my feeds still don't look the same in GReaded (disconnected) as they do in GReader (connected).

mustansir

Greetings from The Humungus! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!

I was an avid Google Reader user, but decided to give NewsGator's offerings a try when they went free. At home I'm sporting the FeedDemon (and all of its quirks), at work it's the NewsGator web interface (unapproved software installations are frowned upon), and when I'm on the go (or taking a poop) it's NewsGator Go! on my BlackBerry. The synchronization between the different apps was what sold me.

Now if Google came out with a Google Reader application for mobile devices, I would definitely switch back. The Gmail mobile app is the shizzle. As it is though, Google Reader through a mobile browser just doesn't cut it for me.

LordHumungus

The other big advantage to desktop readers is the ability to access secure content and content that sits behind corporate firewalls. I love my Google Reader for all my personal feeds. But I use FeedDemon for my business feeds at work.

nwilliam3

I am in the same boat as ACURRIE, I use Bloglines for my RSS feeds and have been for over 3 years. I have always thought the Bloglines was a better solution than Google's, which I tried to use on two different occasions and never liked.

The ability to get to my RSS feeds from any Internet-connected computer or mobile device is unsurpassed.

s_bog

I use Newsgator's offerings. At home I use feed demon. At work I use NewsGator Inbox with outlook 2003 and on my Archos 605 media player I use the NewsGator online site. All of which is synchronized online.
Interestingly the reason I switched was Google reader would not display well on the Archos 605's opera browser and I needz me feedz.

nakedcode

I have been using Bloglines for a few months now, and it gives me everything I need. I like the interface and the functionality. Because it's Web-based, I do not need to care about synchronization. I have about 50 subscriptions and the speed has never been an issue for me (as long as Bloglines is not down, which happened only 1-2 times). Highly recommend to everybody.

alekdavis

Google Reader
I have 2 accounts one SFW and one slightly more NSFW
I just wish there were an easy way to sync between the 2 accounts.

Confuzius

I was one of the people who raised the issue of web vs. desktop RSS readers when Adam posted about FeedDemon last week. I'm a longtime Bloglines user, and I'm about 99% convinced that web is the way to go for me simply because it's one less program on my computer, which means one less thing for me to manage. Plus, if it ain't broke, why try to fix it?

So with that in mind, I've considered switching to Google Reader and have been messing around with it lately. And I really don't see what the big deal is. I think it looks cluttered and almost cartoon-ey, and it drives me positively CRAZY that my feeds only appear by oldest, newest, or that bizarre "autosort" rather than appearing first sorted by the subscription source.

I also think Bloglines' beta will be a big improvement over an already solid product once it is fully functional. For now, I'm staying with it...but maybe after a few months and another round of improvements for both products, that will change.

djr1904

Shrook for macs. it's a nice lite reader and it works lovely with growl

mentalground0

I chose desktop readers for an entirely different reason. I do much of my reading on my blackberry while on various trains (I spend > 4 hours/day on a train), and I constantly go in/out of service, as well as in subways without service. I need a solution that saves the feeds locally on my blackberry so I can entertain myself while sitting in a lonely subway station. Something that I can't get with a browser based solution (yes, even the google "app" for the BB just points to the browser).

dangerp

One correction to your story. If you are using the "sync across platforms" functionality of Newsgator, you are subject to how often Newsgator refreshes its feeds; you are thus not receiving the "sync what you want and get what's fresh then" benefit.

Mike

I am a Google Reader nut, but on Adam's recommendation I gave FeedDemon a try. I was definitely conflicted. I liked the interface and the panic button feature in FeedDemon. I didn't like waiting for it to load new items when I first started it.

In the end, I think it was the fact that you have to click in a field in FeedDemon to scroll it down that decided me. Stupid little thing, but that always annoys me. Anyway, I have never found Google Reader slow. I scroll continuously and ctrl+leftclick to open items of interest in background tabs. I can't imagine it being any more efficient. Yes, I love keyboard shortcuts, but feeds are for scrolling.

Besides that, frequently something I read will interest me and warrant further inspection, and I am just happiest doing that from my browser. Launchy won't run Google searches in FeedDemon, you know. ;)

Dmitrikaramazov

I'm not a serious feed-reader, so I use Google Reader. Speed has not been an issue, and access from any Internet-connected computer is a huge plus. It's also one less software to install and maintain on my computer.

Posco Grubb

I love GReader, but i wonder when they are going to give us a desktop-app. I would like to see something like that. Right now i use GReader and i will still using it until something really cool and new shows up. Something like i told you, a desktop interface for GReader.

ChambrasWeed

Personally, I have moved entirely from desktop applications to web based applications for both email and news, and to a lesser extent document editing since starting university. I like the fact that I have easy access to the sites I like to keep up on irrespective of the OS my laptop happens to be booted in or whether I'm on a computer in a campus work area, in halls or at home. I found it irritating to lose every item of interest every time I swapped computers or to have to re-read items because I swapped from one computer to another. Admittedly google does now have complete control over my life, but as long as they continue to provide a satisfactory service then I have few qualms about recommending online newsreaders over desktop ones such as LiFeRea to anyone who wants seamless and consistent access to stuff they want to access from a number of computers.

blackheart-uk

just registered to say "Netvibes all the way" ! The fact that you can customize the layout with tabs, columns, etc. is a definite plus for me. You will remember very quickly where to look for and you will not be distracted by clicking too much...

gates57

I prefer RSSFWD with Gmail's +filterting. Send all RSS to youraddress+rss@gmail.com, filter it to a separate label, and voila -- cached RSS feeds in the same interface as you read your email in. Searchable, forwardable, etc.

mholden

I like my desktop reader to live in my web browser:

[brief.mozdev.org]

Allow me to pilther your topic headings...

Speed: It's plenty fast

Smart Search: Uhm, not that I know of - but then again, I don't miss it.

# Manual Feed Refresh: It checks new feeds regularly, at customisable intervals. I don't need manual refresh.

# Quick search: Yup, it's got that and it works like a charm.

# Cross-Platform Sync: Nope - I wish Firefox settings in general could be sync'ed to my laptop Firefox install (without needing a memory stick)

# Separate Buckets: Separate tabs are better :)

# Customization: Yeah, I can customise the heck out of Firefox and the plugin has just the right amount of customisation for my needs.

# Offline Reading: Yup.

# Desktop Apps: It's running in one and I've yet to find anything it doesn't do right.

# Sort Feeds by Attention: Nope.

# Access from Any Web Browser: See note on "Cross-Platform Sync"

# Integration with Other Google Products: Dunno, why would I want my feeds integrated with Google?

# Incredible Keyboard Shortcuts: Yup, it gives Reader a run for it's money.

# Shared Items: That's what IM is for - my friends send me specific URLs they think will be interesting for me, if I like the link they sent I add it to my own feeds folder ;)

# Show Only Updated Items: Yup, main view by default shows only updated articles. You can't filter the folders to just updated items though (although it indicates which folders have new stuff very well)

# Google-Powered Search: It's running in Firefox heh.

# No Storage Required: Well, yeah, it needs storage, but really - even if my archived articles ran in to gigs it's really not a problem these days.

If there was a service where I could upload my Firefox plugins and settings so that I could quickly turn any Firefox in to _my_ Firefox, Reader would die a death IMHO.

gfraser

Another big advantage for me is that when you subscribe to a feed, you immediately have the entire past history of the feed available. With client side, you only start accumulating history when you subscribe.

DWHarrison

I use Vienna and have a question about Net News Wire that is driving me insane. I can read articles, but I cannot delete them?!? I like keeping the feed articles in their specific folders that I want to reference at a later date and trash those I don't.

Can someone shed the light on a basic concept that seems lost in so many readers?

Ian

Nice piece and great comments. I was one of the ones convinced that there was no point in desktop solutions, but I think I've been convinced otherwise. I think I'll give the whole NewsGator / Feeddemon thing a go. I've used FeedDemon in the past and loved the ability to save pages. I didn't realize that you could integrate it with NewsGator Online. That sounds like a perfect solution for me. :)

philosopher_dog

I used to use Bloglines and then switched to Google Reader, but switched to NetNewsWire when it became free. As some of the people said, the speed upgrade is incredible (and unlike bloglines, it does not suffer frequent downtimes). Also, I almost use keyboard navigation for my desktop reader too (tab key).

I really do not like NewsGator interface (not even close to Bloglines or Google Reader).

nimbupani

bloglines for me, portability and none of that google evil.

dalejo

Google Reader has a good features-to-performance ratio, and is basically the only news reader I ever use. (I would wish that it worked faster in Opera though...)

michaelper22

I have used Google Reader and Sage in the past, but returned to netvibes almost a year ago and really enjoy the experience. I have individual tabs set up for the different topics I keep track of (eg, technology, world news, art blogs, craft blogs, productivity), plus one set up to keep tabs on my blog and another for general info (gmail, todoist, weather, etc).

I don't feel sold on the desktop-based reader, but since portability isn't a huge issue for me, I'm going to download FeedDemon, import my feeds from netvibes, and give it a whirl for a week.

artg33k

I would jump at the chance to use a good desktop feed reader, but I need the ability to access my feeds on the web, and the web interface for NetNewsWire is terrible. Google Reader on the other hand, along with Prism or Google Gears, is just fine. Once someone makes a desktop feed reader that syncs up with Google Reader (marking read items read, not just feed additions), then I'll most likely use it. Until then, Google Reader it is.

TehOompa

I <3 FeedDemon. The only bad thing is I bought it about a week before they made it free, which kinda blows...

JamezHill

The main reason I use web-based RSS readers is that some of the feeds turn over too quickly to capture everything once or twice per day (which is how often I check for new headlines). I let the web-based readers do the capturing every hour or so, and don't lose any of the headlines.

Chad Cloman

Both those readers offline mode are terrible - mainly because none of them attempt to cache images embed in the feed.
Newspipe ( [newspipe.sourceforge.net] ) is the only RSS agregator I've found that is able to retrieve images from posts. Even if you're not reading the posts offline, having the image stored locally is much quicker than having the images load up as you view the post.

The only (and biggest) problem with Newspipe isn't actually a newspipe-problem - Since newspipe sends RSS items as email, but the mail client I use seems unable to move messages to an appropriate folder (I had an applescript that got the X-Feed-Title header, and moved the RSS items to a folder based on that header)
But every time the script runs, after a few messages the message index gets messed up apparently and it forces Mail.app to quit are rebuild the index..

So just now I'm using NetNewsWire basically because it can make Camino open item URLs in the background - if I could do the same in Google Reader I'd be using that (Camino's "Open URLs in background tabs" option is buggy and inconsistent)
Being able to scroll though RSS items, hitting return on interesting ones is a good way to read RSS.. GReader's j/k/v/o's shortcuts are preferable, but having to switch back to the GReader tab every time I open an item is annoying

dbr

Just a small note about FD:

# Incredible Keyboard Shortcuts: Like GR, you can do almost everything in FD with the keyboard.

# Shared Items: FD has a similar feature called Web Clippings where you get an RSS feed of your shared items.

# Show Only Updated Items: Like Outlook, FD has an array of views where you can see only unread items, items updated in the last 24 hours, etc.

FeedDemon vs Google Reader

Amit Agarwal

@JamezHill: if you got it a week before, they'll refund the amount I guess.

Amit Agarwal

Netvibes Forever and Always...

zia

WTF is this "RSS" everybody keeps talking about? Where I come from, newsreaders read newsgroups.

black_rabbit

Google reader for me. I don't like to install many apps and gReader is simple, fast and It's OK to me.
Thanks for the comparison :)

Nxqd3051990

I loathe online news readers because they're so slow, and I never saw a point to purchasing news readers when web browsers are free (I know the difference, but both read online content). On my Macs I use Vienna, and I use Opera on Windows. Most of the Windows versions I tried, and liked, were Java-based, but I didn't like how they taxed my system resources after being open for awhile. I guess I'll give FeedDemon another shot.

tayker

I have already tried many RSS Readers WEB Based and Desktops. I'm also Pocket PC user.
In my opinion Bloglines will be better than Google Reader as Web Based RSS reader, while Beta version became a production release. Also Mobile version of Bloglines better than Google Reader.

1 years ago I was using FeedReader it is very similar NetNewsWire but not powerful and neither have web based Synchronization feature nor mobile version.

Now I'm using NewsGator products as WEB, as Desktop, as Mobile. Because I should read my news without Internet.

In the other hand, Internet Explorer and Firefox have very high CPU and Memory consumption with WEB Based RSS Reader especially with Google Reader. FeedDemon can manage CPU and Memory usage very well. You should also concern this for the speed.

Hakan

Netnewswire is the way to go for me on my mac. Speed is the main factor. For windows, does firefox plugin counts as web or desk based. I have tried many feed readers for Windows but none has the good feel like netnewswire, ever since i found newsfox for firefox. I've not look at other readers.

terencet

I myself use my mail reader and rss2email [rss2email.infogami.com], along with procmail for sorting stuff server-side.

humbuckah

Only thing that bugs about G-reader, is you can't export the OPML by folder. Its all or nothing.

PromoGuy

No mention of NewsFire?
[newsfirerss.com]

It works wonderfully, but the project is sort of dead after a tiny Leopard fix was added. It's your basic RSS reader, but I've grown accustomed to it's simplicity and straightforwardness.

pixelsnbits

With little time in my day, I'm forced to plan everything, including time to catch up with my feeds. Because of this, I don't use Web-based readers because it's a distraction. Using NetNewsWire forces me to have a set time to read through my feeds and proceed with only the articles I'm interested in - rather than clicking on every little headline of minor interest throughout the day (since I'm in a Web browser most of the day).

Macgizmo

The thing that still has me locked in to Bloglines is the email subscriptions (you forward emails to a specific address, based on rules if you want, and that address turns it into a feed in bloglines). Anybody know if there's a way to replicate that outside of bloglines? I have hundreds of these things, so I'm totally stuck with Bloglines, even though I'd rather have the tagging ability of Google Reader (so feeds could be in multiple headings, basically).

Ian

I switched from feeddemon to G-Reader recently for three reasons: (1) feeddemon (server side) was being blocked by some classifieds sites such as craigslist (so I wasn't seeing new classifieds in feeds) - this as reported by feeddemon support staff, (2) google reader is MUCH better on my blackberry browser, and (3) the feeddemon sync between work/home wasn't consistent.

molivier

Web based (Google Reader) all the way.

Having a separate RSS reader would just clutter up my desktop, the advantage with GReader is you can have it open in a tab in Firefox and it's especially useful in a dual monitor system, I swear my first monitor is purely there for web browsing purposes only.

djhworld

For me, running a separate app for feeds is a waste and a pain in the ass. Also, a minor issue, but I like how Adblock works in G-Reader.

Not trying to be sarcastic here, I'm really curious: Can someone enlighten me on the "slowness" of G-Reader? Are the feeds are picked up by G-Reader slowly, or is the action of scrolling through the feeds slow? I've always find G-Reader more than fast enough for me.

hector7g

The superior mobile interface is what is keeping me and my Treo 650 on Bloglines. The original mobile interface was better because it showed the summaries of feed entries on one page, the new beta interface (m.beta.bloglines.com) is even better because it shows a limited number of items per page load. I have it set for 10 items.

With Google Reader's mobile interface it take multiple page loads to get each new chunk. The latency of my mobile net connection makes this more painful.

If/when I move to an iphone or android device, I will reconsider Google Reader. But Bloglines also has a nice iphone interface (i.bloglines.com).

(Not an employee of Blogines or affiliated company... just a satisfied user)

dharris

I used to use Newsgator Online, but when they changed their interface, it got too cumbersome for my tastes. I then switched to Bloglines, primarily because they offered a free mobile version. Their standard web-based RSS reader was sub-par to the Google RSS reader, so I was using both for a while (the mobile Google reader is not suited to my usage), but it was a pain to keep two separate web-based. Bloglines has a new web UI (in Beta) that is a big improvement over the previous version, so I am back to using it.

ichalif

When google released GReader I left desktop RSS behind (reluctantly, at first). I decided to give it another whirl when FeedDemon went freebie and after installing it and trying it out a few things immediately popped out at me:

1. I no longer can update my SU blog (using context menu shortcuts or SU toolbar options) or use my GNotebook while browsing thru the feeds.

2. I can't go off on one of my endless wandering-surfing sprees while being able to easily cross-reference multi-sources from non-feed related sites.

3. I never delete feeds.. I keep everything and thats gonna be a fat hit to my HDs w/ 10k+ feed articles sitting around waiting for me to finally read or search for them (I don't read them all but I keep them for reference when a subject comes up that I need to research).

Now, maybe there are solutions for each of these problems --- I didn't try to solve them because by using GReader I just eliminate the problems.

lunaticprophet

@hector7g: I think it can be considered slow for both reasons, both of which Adam touches on in the article. Google indexes feeds at its own schedule (when you click the "refresh" button, you're checking Google's index, not the actual feed), and it's been up to an hour behind for me - not good if you want timely RSS reminders, for example. Reader's interface is noticeably slower for me than FeedDemon's, even on my newly updated dual-core system with 4 GB RAM. You probably don't notice it too much, but if you try a desktop reader side-by-side with Reader, you'll see the difference. It's slower yet than GreatNews, to which I've returned after bumping into FeedDemon's limitations.

FeedDemon has an upper limit on the number of articles you can keep per feed (2500, but it's set to 200 (less than 2 weeks' worth of Lifehacker!) as default). I'm not sure if this is also true for NewNewsWire. According to forum posts, the data storage needs to be redesigned from the ground up - a large database would slow the app so much as to make it unuseable. There are also lots of issues with syncing, and people have been complaining about it in the forums since it was implemented.

joelena

I used desktop-based readers for a very long time, until I started reading feeds at school as well. This was just a lot easier to deal with through a web-based client (Google Reader). I miss the instant synchronization, but besides that I have no regrets in moving to Google Reader.

sigloiv

Adam, Great write up!

Two things caught my eye about FeedDemon:
1) The Attention feature
2) Panic button

Nick B reports that Nick H says the attention report will be available in FeeDemon 2.6 - [nick.typepad.com]

I collect things. This includes tangibles like papers and virtuals like emails. I don't use these things most times so the panic button will be a great feature to keep me in present and not get dragged down by the past, which happens to many folks like myself with ADD / ADHD......That feeling of treading water and trying to stay afloat keeps you too busy to get out of the lake!

adria.richards

Personally, I like the desktop software "Feedreader" at [www.feedreader.com]
I've been using the software for about 2 years and it has done EXACTLY what I'd expect from a Desktop feedreader...without all the bells and whistles.
Worth a check I suppose if nothing else tickles your fancy.

jjlax328