Really, REALLY Simple Syndication

October 16, 2006 7:48 AM

Help me find an ideal desktop RSS reader.

I've been using Mozilla Thunderbird to handle my RSS feeds for a while now, but I've switched to Portable Thunderbird, and trying to use the RSS functionality makes the program run extremely slow. So now I'm in the market for a new RSS reader.

The most standard feature that I need, aside from the normal stuff, is the ability for the program to recognize feeds that I've read from another computer. If I mark all the feeds as read (or delete them) at my work computer, I want to be able to get home and only monitor new feeds. The reason I want desktop functionality is that I want it to be able to run all day without needing to keep a browser window open. I'd like to just be able to minimize it to the tray and notify me when there's new content to read.

Does this kind of program exist?

posted by sjuhawk31 to technology (8 comments total)

FeedDemon, is a desktop program that will sync through the NewsGator service to keep your feeds and read/unread flags consistent between multiple NewsGator readers. It's not free, though.
posted by chrismear at 7:59 AM on October 16, 2006

You might get on best with a website: both Google Reader and Bloglines will import your current feeds, have keyboard shortcuts etc.

Bloglines additionally has monitor programs that will run in the tasktray and flag up when there are new items -- no need to run your browser.
posted by bonaldi at 8:00 AM on October 16, 2006

NetNewsWire (the paid version) does this by syncing to a NewsGator Online account, FTP server or .Mac account.

You may have to bite the bullet and use a web based aggregator like Bloglines or Google Reader. Note that both of those have notifier programs that can tell you when you have new content, even if your browser is closed.
posted by revgeorge at 8:04 AM on October 16, 2006

NetNewsWire and FeedDemon can also sync with each other, as well as the online NewsGator feed reader, which is basically a simpler version of Bloglines.
posted by scottreynen at 8:25 AM on October 16, 2006

The upgrades to Google Reader are making it attractive and there's a greasemonkey script that integrates your feeds in Google reader with Gmail now. Gave it a spin yesterday and it was very, very cool.

Howver, I cannot say enough about Netvibes. I use it on multiple computers all the time. Just log into your account from whatever computer you're on. Your feeds should be just as you left them on the previous computer. You can organize your feeds anyway you want on the page by drag and drop, and even separate groups related feeds onto their own page using tabs. There's also an ever growing number of useful widgets you can put on your page where you read your feeds. Very Ajaxy, very slick. Love it.

I don't know about monitoring/alerts with Netvibes, but it wouldn't surprise me if it could be done -- I've just scratched the surface of the features available. My guess is that you will have to run your browser.
posted by Heminator at 8:26 AM on October 16, 2006

Looks like FeedDemon is the winner...

...a follow-up, though: when I have it minimized in the tray, there's a little envelope next to the icon, but all my feeds have been read - why isn't it just appearing as a blank icon?
posted by sjuhawk31 at 10:08 AM on October 16, 2006

Nevermind that follow-up. Thanks for everyone's help!
posted by sjuhawk31 at 10:27 AM on October 16, 2006

Perhaps not a popular choice but Microsoft have a product called Max.
http://www.microsoft.com/Max/

I had a quick play, looks nice , feels slick.
posted by matholio at 1:58 AM on October 18, 2006