Do You Use RSS Feeds? If So, What Reader Do You Use?

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Permalink Reply by Zadi on December 19, 2007 at 8:57pm

Google Reader FTW! :)
I know Steve uses Bloglines -- tried that for a while, but I like the tagging/starring/sharing/trend features that Google Reader has. On that note - I should say that Google still scares me.

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Permalink Reply by TheFemGeek on December 19, 2007 at 10:44pm

I resisted for a while because I likes SpeedyFeed but then one day they were no more. So when I got my T-Mobile Dash I decided to try Google Reader. It has been Google Reader ever since. Though I'll have to admit I really hate the way it looks. It seems so plain.

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Permalink Reply by Hilary Baumann on December 19, 2007 at 11:57pm

I used to use the sage plugin for FireFox for a couple of years (probably since late 2004 since that's when I set up my first client audio podcast and blog) but in the last month switched over to googlereader for a few reasons. There are things that I like about it and also things I don't like about GoogleReader. There are things about sage I miss but overall I'm happier with google reader. I am subscribed to 93 feeds at this moment... so you probably don't want the list.

I do check things in various readers from time to time but that's just to make sure there are no strange quirks.

I have found rss to not be functional in the case of several sites:
Engadget and gizmodo unsubbed from today because there was simply too much to keep up with there - there is a point where you get inundated with so much information it's just a waste of time. Also pulled the news from the rss reader and have a widget in igoogle for that too ... I don't need to accumulate the news for multiple days. I pulled digg awhile back because it too was just too much info also. Ning based groups like Mix-fu I don't have in the reader because the format is just a little more palatable on the website itself.

I'm using the session manager plugin for firefox to create sets of websites I open up and browse - for example I have a morning set that opens up tabs for myspace, facebook, google reader, the local newspaper's website and the ning groups I read a lot. The local newspaper does have an rss feed but it's not so good... I don't spend a huge chunk of time on each site usually and sometimes the morning set gets opened up at other times of the day like now. :)

I also use session manager for some sites that can't get their rss feeds right. My best example is a set of fashion blogs that can't seem to get their photos in the feed which defeats half the point. Reading about something I can't see is pretty pointless. I have mentioned it to several but they just aren't tech savvy to them they just have a blog and know nothing about how people see the rss. One thought that they were doing excerpts and ads in their rss feed ... they seemed rather perplexed when I told them I saw no ads.

Itunes uses rss and you can put in feeds that have audio there sometimes that aren't in the itunes store - I'm subscribed to well over 100 podcasts and there are also streaming feeds that I've found various places that I have in there too. I tried democracy player (or whatever it's called now) and I just wasn't enamored with it. For audio and video I'm sticking with itunes partially because I have a video ipod I am addicted to.

I do wish google video and youtube would have rss feeds for video channels (users.) I know of several video podcasts that I used to be subscribed to through itunes that ditched trying to deal with hosting their own and just put the videos up on youtube and google video. I put a lot of podcasts and music on my ipod and listen to it when I walk or sometimes I hook the ipod up to the tv to watch videos while I work. So right now those that have chosen to go the google and youtube route I no longer really watch unless I'm in the mood to pull them and batch convert them with isquint into something that can go on my ipod. The other perk to using the ipod for the audio and video is that I'm not using my computer processor listening to music and it's freed up for whatever I'm working on.

Eventually I will have a media machine ... I do love pandora, I hate my cable provider's fickle dvr ... so many reasons I plan on building machine dedicated to media.

You might think I have strayed from rss here but it's not completely off topic because I see that as being the direction some things are headed. Even if the rss is masked by some sort of interface over it. Hulu.com has rss feeds which I will probably play with (which is a joint venture with a lot of traditional tv channels) ... the trick is what will each thing work well with and what direction each site or company takes that outlet for their media. I remember back when podcasting started it was a nightmare to deal with getting the itunes specific tags right ... feedburner came along and helped a lot of us ... and rss got easier and better as well (some of that was the availability of information.)

Podcasts are still foreign to large numbers of people also. They might have heard of them but they've never downloaded/subscribed to a show. Actually there are still many people that can't or don't do much with their computer outside of e-mail and browsing the internet.

Sorry for the long stream of consciousness here! I hope at least a few people find the info interesting or can add their thoughts to this. :)

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Permalink Reply by Arthur Reeder on December 20, 2007 at 1:16am

I love using the iGoogle for my favorite podcasts and shows. I use google reader for all my more nerdy RSS streams.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Miller on December 20, 2007 at 7:20pm

The first RSS reader I used starting in 2002 or so (developed by a friend so I got my hands on it early) was NNTP/RSS http://www.methodize.org/nntprss/ which allowed me to read my feeds in Outlook Express, which was my mail client of choice at the time.

Shortly after Google Reader came out I switched. I had already moved to GMail so the client integration aspect was no longer an issue (back in 02/03 I was one of the few people who could single-click to email an entire post to someone!). I really liked Goog Reader's "river of news" metaphor. When they first changed to the more common email-client-like version, I stuck with the "old" version for a while, but eventually knowing that development on that client was frozen, I made the switch. It's mostly the Google effect more than anything about the application that keeps me using it.

I have tried Bloglines and even with using "skins" developed by some hardcore designers and implemented via user styles in Firefox, I couldn't hang.

I also developed my own, but that's just impractical. I'm still thinking about developing a seamless personal feed aggregator that can do particularly smart things with one's own creative output online. But that's a story for another day.

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Permalink Reply by Cammy on December 20, 2007 at 7:44pm

I live on RSS feeds. I shudder to remember my days without them. I started out using a feed reader that plugged into my mail client--I don't even remember what it was called, only that it was buggy. Then I tried one that scrolled stuff along the bottom of my Firefox window, but that one was not designed for a news junkie like myself. I've been with Google Reader ever since. I just went through and cleared out and I'm back down to 65 subscriptions It's 50/50 between blogs and various news outlets. Podcasts I tend not to subscribe to with Google reader.

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Permalink Reply by Haviland on December 21, 2007 at 5:50pm

Google reader

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Permalink Reply by Yoseph Metal on December 21, 2007 at 6:21pm

my rss is mostly blog and news related.

some things i just use live book marks.

but for other things i now use the Mac OS X 10.5.* mail app. the new rss feature is nice. it keeps all my rss feed in it own category. and its where i check my mail.

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Permalink Reply by anabee on December 21, 2007 at 8:32pm

I use goggle reader mostly for blogs and news, mostly art and fashion related sites also

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Permalink Reply by Blaenk Denum on January 22, 2008 at 10:16pm

I used to use the iGoogle page but it only supports 10 entries max per feed so I'd miss a lot of content. So now I use Google Reader as my RSS Reader simply because I can use any computer to access my feeds, and I've also grown accustomed to its interface.

I subscribe to news feeds and content feeds as well, I use iTunes of course for podcasts.

I subscribe to news feeds to stay informed, I also subscribe to many actual content feeds. Here is a list of things I'm subscribed to (Some at least):

Ars Technica
Cracked.com
Debian Package of the Day
DesktopLinux
My DreamHost server's status feed
Epic-Fu Blog
My Facebook notifications
Facebook Blog
/Film
FirstShowing
GameSpot Recent Updates
Hack a day
Hackszine
Joystiq
LifeHacker
LinuxFormat
linux-gamers.net
Mininova Blog
Official Google Reader Feed
P2P Blog
Phoronix
Planet Ubuntu
ReleaseLog (RLSLOG)
Slashdot
StrongLifts
RealMuscle
Study Hacks
TechCrunch
The Daily WTF
Latest Video Game News from 1up
TorrentFreak
xkcd.com
ZenHabits

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Permalink Reply by Piers Millett on January 23, 2008 at 6:43am

I use klipfolio, for blog updates, new items, science & tech releases - and of course I have an entire stream dedicated to Epic FU.

The reason I chose this was because I had to download the programme, being outside a browser, it sits always on top down by the start bar - irrespective of whether I am surfing the web, writing in word, playind in dreamweaver, etc. As a result I get my updates as I like them - as soon as they appear.

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Permalink Reply by Andylat on January 23, 2008 at 6:51am

I really don't know how many feeds have, since I start use Google Reader and the Google Toolbar for Firefox I just start adding any source that seems cool, funny or importan

some of the most readers for me are the fowlling site

Fotolog feeds (for follow my FF list update) http://info.fotolog.com/discover
I Can Has Cheezburger? (Lolcatz =D) http://icanhascheezburger.com/
FayerWayer (Chilean Tech site) http://www.fayerwayer.com/
Liberación Digital (Chilean activism group for tech issues) http://www.liberaciondigital.org/wakeup/

and my friends blogs feeds

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