The First Thing About RSS
I have received a few emails and messages this week from a few listeners about RSS. RSS or Really Simple Syndication is a powerful tool, without RSS there is no way I could read the number of articles I do and stay in touch with tech news for the show. Because that would mean that I would have to visit every site, every day to get the latest. Plus no way of organizing it once I found it!
The emails that I have received have been about how people can better use RSS and build their library of RSS feeds. This “library” of feeds is known as an OPML file, basically all your feeds rolled into one file.
The first bit of advice I give people is to get a decent RSS feed reader. There is no substitute for a good reader. A half decent reader will give you options and customization that will allow you to consume information the way you want to in addition to great features such as filters and “watches”.
As one of our listeners discovered this week; online readers have their limitations. They contacted me to see if I was aware of how to “export” their feeds from an existing online reader, most don’t. But with a decent reader you can back up your OPML file for safe keeping or share it with others.
I use FeedDemon, it is the reader to get in my opinion if you are serious about building your OPML and watching a large number of feeds. Some would describe it as the best desktop client there is.
I am going on about FeedDemon because NewsGator, the publishers of FeedDemon are offering 10 bucks off FeedDemon until the 31st of May. Enter the code “LikeIt” into the promo code box. This also includes other NewsGator products, such as their mobile version NewsGator Go! for Blackberry, Java Mobile Smartphone or PDA, and Windows Mobile Smartphone or PDA.
This is a great deal and I would encourage anyone wanting a really good RSS reader to take the opportunity to get FeedDemon.
There is also a Mac version by NewsGator called NetNewsWire.
I also noticed that NewsGator have updated their site, most likely in preparation for the up and coming release of FeedDemon 2.5, looks good and a lot easier to navigate. And don’t worry, you get updates for free.
Dave
Make sure you check out This Week’s Podcast where we interviewed Cameron Reilly, CEO of The Podcast Network!
Subscribe the the RSS feed or with iTunes
OR
May 18th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Thanks Dave. I was able to drag-and-drop my feeds from igoogle to NetNewsWire today. I’m using the 3.x alpha. I was also able to export to an opml and backup my feeds on opmlmanager.com. It was painful to transition but I think I’ll be buying NetNewsWire ASAP. It’s a shame there’s no S60 port. Maybe I’ll test litefeeds again. Anyhoo. NNW was able to find the rss feeds based on website alone. I discovered last night that most readers will not do that. So next time I add a feed I only need apple-n and type something.com and it’s off searching and doing all the work for me. It’s great!
http://www.opmlmanager.com/opml/EricSeale.opml
I still need to add a few feeds from my N80 and 770 but I think I’m almost “there”
May 18th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Great to hear Eric. I have heard that NetNewsWire is very good, let me know what you think of it.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I found NetNewsWire good until it was dealing with a lot of feeds, then I had a lot of crashes.
Now I use Netvibes for the most part, which does allow the export of your OPML.
It’s full of Ajax-y goodness and has tabbed screens. You can share your tabs publicly if you choose. http://www.netvibes.com
Another great site is Share Your OPML http://share.opml.org
May 18th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Thanks for that Cait - I wonder what the new version that is in the pipes will be like?
Yes both Tim and I have a Netvibes page and it is great, and as you say one of the few services that allow exporting of your feeds.
May 18th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
I love that I can visually rearrange my feeds into different tabs, just drag and drop.
This is also a great video explaining RSS.
http://www.scouta.com/faves/4XyFbeAXwMJ/