Small, simple RSS reader for Windows?

November 24, 2005 9:11 PM

RSS feed reader question: There have been a number of RSS reader posts here, but I have a rather specific one. I am looking for a clean, small, easy, unintrusive reader for Windows.

The reason the question is specific is that I've tried so many Windows readers and have been disappointed with each of them. The best newsreader I've found for my style is NewsFire on OS X. It's very simple: two panes, no folder trees (except the basic folder list on the left), very intuitive UI, no extraneous buttons, elegant notification system. Even NetNewsWire is overblown by comparison.

I've tried RSS feeds in my browser, I've tried most of the major Windows RSS readers (NewsForge, I believe it's called, was ok), I've tried widgets, I've tried web-based aggregators. Each has strengths, but most are either overwrought (most of the Windows apps) or the organization system is different from what I'm looking for (and have found in NewsFire).

I'm not looking for a feed manager. I'm not looking to perform any magic on my feeds or do anything other than have a small, simple app that sits around on my desktop and gives me a simple news update as it occurs. The Outlook-style readers on Windows fail the "glance" test (checking for updates quickly without interrupting my workflow).

So, does anyone know of an RSS reader for Windows that is essentially NewsFire for Windows?

posted by socratic to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

I haven't used NewsFire, but Feedreader is an extremely lightweight newsreader.
posted by mrkohrea at 9:49 PM on November 24, 2005

SharpReader is very lightweight.
posted by evariste at 9:58 PM on November 24, 2005

have you tried Google Reader? It's not windows based, but it is simple.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:44 PM on November 24, 2005

I'm not sure whether you've already tried it, but if you're using Firefox anyway, you might like the Sage newsreader extension.
posted by box at 12:53 AM on November 25, 2005

I second evariste's suggestion.

SharpReader is probably the closest you will get to NewsFire if you're looking for a standalone app... Check out some screenshots to see if it looks like what you need. It's easy to use, can sit in the System Tray (you can tell it to pop-up in the tray kind of like AOL Instant Messenger), and I swore by it until I switched to Bloglines.
posted by tweak at 1:03 AM on November 25, 2005

I've been looking for a longtime and I use sharpreader - it's ok.
posted by oh pollo! at 3:12 AM on November 25, 2005

I'm not looking to ... do anything other than have a small, simple app that sits around on my desktop and gives me a simple news update as it occurs.

Bloglines has that, under "open notifier". A little window pops up that either has just a B, or a B with a red star. (I'm not completely understanding your desire to avoid browsers, so I'm focusing on your functionality request.)
posted by Aknaton at 8:18 AM on November 25, 2005

Have you tried Thunderbird? While it is an email client, I just use it for RSS feeds. It's pretty simple to use and has the features you want.
posted by Serena at 9:34 AM on November 25, 2005