Help Me Find An RSS Reader - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Jetée · 07-05-2009, 05:33 PM

I'm currently looking for a better free RSS/XML Feed-Reader, and I am hoping that people can chime in with their recommendations of what I am looking for specifically.

I don't subscribe to many feeds, and at last count, I think I was subscribed to 3 or 4 feeds. But those feeds that I do subscribe to are massive; one feed of mine has nearly 1,000 entries, and another is well over 4,000.

What I am looking for specifically is a reader that I can integrally-search within, and one that I can read all articles from its inception. The feeds list in Opera is what I have in mind, but it too has limits, namely it only keeps track of the articles from the day you subscribe, not from when the url feed was created. I don't want a feed-reader that only updates from the time I subscribe to it, because I already have that, or only displays the 25,50,100 newest items and does not allow the previous entries to be shown. That doesn't help my specific cause at all. I think what I want is a powerful reader that not only updates with the newest articles, but also stores and lists the previous entries into a gradually-increasing back catalogue of the entire feed from day one. And from what I gather from reading and exploring the past few days online, I can't find any such RSS that will afford me this (with the limited exception of Google Reader).

I just recently figured out the backwards history with Google Reader, and I thought it was great, until I realized it doesn't save what you look at, and reverts to showing the 30 newest items. So, hitting "down" in search of that one article amongst 4,000 is like finding a needle in a flowing river; if I go past it, I have to start all over again.

So, bearing the above in mind, can anybody steer me in the right direction, or is what I'm looking for too difficult and/or "ideal" to find within the ordinary feed managers available?

SecretMethod70 · 07-06-2009, 06:29 AM

I can't claim to know for sure, but my guess is that you're being too picky (though I do think it would be nice if Google Reader gave you the option not to have items automatically marked as read after 30 days).

Jetée · 07-06-2009, 12:41 PM

Well, to be honest, all I want out of the reader is the ability to retrieve "archived" entries before the date I subscribed to whichever feed. As far as my experience goes in testing some of the more well-known varieties, it seems that only Google Reader has this function enabled, but still in a very limited fashion (only being able to read 20 items in the past at a time).

SecretMethod70 · 07-06-2009, 08:57 PM

Ah but that's not quite true... if you hold the page down button for awhile you can create a very long list of archived items. Of course, once you leave the page you'll have to do it all over again, but the point is you can definitely have more than 20 archived items on the screen at a time.

Redlemon · 07-07-2009, 05:23 AM

I also just figured out that Google Reader will allow you to search for items in feeds that you subscribe to, even if that post precedes the date you began using Google Reader (does that make sense)? But, if I'm trying to catch up with old entries on a new feed, I just go to the original site and read them from there.

Jetée · 07-07-2009, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecretMethod70

Ah but that's not quite true... if you hold the page down button for awhile you can create a very long list of archived items. Of course, once you leave the page you'll have to do it all over again, but the point is you can definitely have more than 20 archived items on the screen at a time.

Yeah, I figured that out the hard way, after an hour of holding down the 'down button', and the feed reaching back to the date of Dec '07 with over 3500 articles, I decided to go back back up and see all the entries I had accumulated, and it reverted back to showing the 25-30 newest items only. Ha.

Maybe I have to star all the items in order to retrieve them again later? I'm going to try that, and see if it works.

dksuddeth · 07-07-2009, 09:24 AM

am I the only one who initially read the topic title as 'looking for an ASS reader'?

//mind in the gutter

Redlemon · 07-07-2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dksuddeth

am I the only one who initially read the topic title as 'looking for an ASS reader'?

//mind in the gutter

Bugzilla is the bug-tracking database used for Mozilla products, including Firefox. Please enjoy this view back into history: Bug 261354 – RSS button looks like it says "ASS"

Jetée · 07-31-2009, 05:25 PM

I just received this e-mail from NewsGator Online, and from what it entails, it seems as though Google Reader will become one of the most powerful and dynamic RSS-feed managers available for free.

I also have a question: does anyone have any good experience with "feedburner"? Google acquired its services I don't know when, so I guess it was popular to begin with, but does it offer any features not already found within the standard Google Reader?

Quote:

You spoke and we listened: in response to customer demand, NewsGator's best-of-breed consumer RSS applications now work with Google Reader. Google Reader will become the online companion to and the synchronization platform for our award-winning RSS reader applications – FeedDemon and NetNewsWire.

In conjunction with this announcement, NewsGator is making changes to several of its consumer RSS Readers. NewsGator will continue to support all its individual end-user applications for enterprise customers. However, NewsGator will continue to develop and support only a sub-set of these applications for free consumer use. FeedDemon and NetNewsWire have new versions for consumers that we encourage you to download as soon as possible. NewsGator’s other individual end-user applications will not continue to be supported for free consumer users after August 31, 2009. Again, all of NewsGator’s individual end-user applications will continue to be supported for paying Enterprise customers.

As part of this transition, NewsGator Online users will need to migrate to Google Reader by August 31, 2009. In addition, NewsGator will no longer support the free versions of NewsGator Inbox, NewsGator Go!, and NewsGator’s RSS features (Shared Clipping Feed, Blogroll, Ratings, Headlines, Browser Toolbar, and Desktop Notifier). NewsGator will also continue to support FeedDemon (for Windows) and NetNewsWire (for Mac and iPhone) for all customers – free or paid. If you have questions as to whether or not you qualify as a paying enterprise customer, please contact your account manager.

With these product changes, we recommend that you take the following actions (to assist you, we have a list of recommendations, step-by-step transition instructions, and informative FAQs on our website):

* FeedDemon – you may continue to use your current version (synchronization won’t be supported after August 31, 2009). However, we recommend that you download the latest version of FeedDemon and sign-up for a Google Reader account for synchronization. Please refer to our transition instructions for assistance.
* NetNewsWire for Mac – you may continue to use your current version (synchronization won’t be supported after August 31, 2009). However, we recommend that you download the latest version of NetNewsWire and sign-up for a Google Reader account for synchronization. Please refer to our transition instructions for assistance.
* NetNewsWire for iPhone Customers – a mobile RSS Reader requires synchronization and a new version of NetNewsWire for iPhone that supports synchronization with Google Reader will be available soon. We will notify you when it is available so that you can download the latest version of NetNewsWire and sign-up for a Google Reader account prior to August 31, 2009.
* NewsGator Inbox – we will no longer support NewsGator Inbox nor release new versions of the product. You may, however, continue to use your current version (synchronization won’t be supported after August 31, 2009). Please refer to our transition instructions for assistance.
* NewsGator Online – NewsGator Online will not be available after August 31, 2009. Please transition to Google Reader by August 31, 2009. Please refer to our transition instructions for assistance.
* NewsGator Go! – NewsGator Go! will not be available after August 31, 2009. Please transition to a new mobile RSS Reader by August 31, 2009. We have included alternate RSS Reader recommendations in the transition instructions on our website.
* NewsGator’s Shared Clipping Feed – this feature will not be available after August 31, 2009. Google Reader will now provide you with this capability. Please see our FAQs for more information.
* Blogroll, Ratings and/or Headlines – these services will not be available after August 31, 2009. Please remove these components from any blog or web site. Please see our FAQs for more information.
* Browser Toolbar or the Desktop Notifier – these features will not work after August 31, 2009, nor will we offer new versions of these features. Please see our FAQs for more information.

Bottom line for you: We keep improving our FeedDemon and NetNewsWire applications, and you now can sync with and use the web based RSS reader you've been asking for. We've been working with the Google team to make these changes as smooth as possible, and they are thrilled to welcome all NewsGator users to the Reader family.

For more information, check out our blog or Google’s blog.

Sincerely,

Greg Reinacker
CTO & Founder
NewsGator Technologies

SecretMethod70 · 07-31-2009, 06:17 PM

I guess I'm missing something sinc eI'm not familiar with NewsGator... how will this improve Google Reader? For that matter, how does it improve NewsGator? Seems to me like NewsGator is responding to customers who asked for a web-based version of their product with "why not just use Google Reader?" Well, if those customers wanted Google Reader, wouldn't they have already been using it?

Can you explain what I'm missing here?

Jetée · 07-31-2009, 06:23 PM

From what I'm reading and seeing being toted by the site's founder, it seems as though they are being acquired by Google to improve the marketability of their services.

I'm not sure at this point if Google aims to integrate what was featured by NewsGator, FeedDemon, and NetNewsWire into their already more advanced Google Reader (well, at least from trying three out of the four above, and what work best for me), or if Google aims to create both a desktop feed manager, and allow for their own Google Reader to be solely used in conjunction online with Gmail, it's still to be determined.

But, whereas a little over a month ago, I saw all these entities as separate (Google, Newsgator, FeedBurner, and FeedDemon) they are all conveniently bundling amongst and unto themselves under the monolithic veil that is GoogleCorp. This can only be good news for me the consumer, right?

Redlemon · 08-05-2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecretMethod70

I guess I'm missing something sinc eI'm not familiar with NewsGator... how will this improve Google Reader?

There's a great post at TidBits (a Mac-focused newsletter/website) regarding this question: TidBITS Tech News: NewsGator Switches Users to Google Reader for Sync, Online RSS

07-05-2009, 05:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
Jetée The Reforms Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition	Help Me Find An RSS Reader I'm currently looking for a better free RSS/XML Feed-Reader, and I am hoping that people can chime in with their recommendations of what I am looking for specifically. I don't subscribe to many feeds, and at last count, I think I was subscribed to 3 or 4 feeds. But those feeds that I do subscribe to are massive; one feed of mine has nearly 1,000 entries, and another is well over 4,000. What I am looking for specifically is a reader that I can integrally-search within, and one that I can read all articles from its inception. The feeds list in Opera is what I have in mind, but it too has limits, namely it only keeps track of the articles from the day you subscribe, not from when the url feed was created. I don't want a feed-reader that only updates from the time I subscribe to it, because I already have that, or only displays the 25,50,100 newest items and does not allow the previous entries to be shown. That doesn't help my specific cause at all. I think what I want is a powerful reader that not only updates with the newest articles, but also stores and lists the previous entries into a gradually-increasing back catalogue of the entire feed from day one. And from what I gather from reading and exploring the past few days online, I can't find any such RSS that will afford me this (with the limited exception of Google Reader). I just recently figured out the backwards history with Google Reader, and I thought it was great, until I realized it doesn't save what you look at, and reverts to showing the 30 newest items. So, hitting "down" in search of that one article amongst 4,000 is like finding a needle in a flowing river; if I go past it, I have to start all over again. So, bearing the above in mind, can anybody steer me in the right direction, or is what I'm looking for too difficult and/or "ideal" to find within the ordinary feed managers available? __________________ As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi

07-06-2009, 06:29 AM	#2 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	I can't claim to know for sure, but my guess is that you're being too picky (though I do think it would be nice if Google Reader gave you the option not to have items automatically marked as read after 30 days). __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

07-06-2009, 12:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
Jetée The Reforms Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition	Well, to be honest, all I want out of the reader is the ability to retrieve "archived" entries before the date I subscribed to whichever feed. As far as my experience goes in testing some of the more well-known varieties, it seems that only Google Reader has this function enabled, but still in a very limited fashion (only being able to read 20 items in the past at a time). __________________ As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi

07-06-2009, 08:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	Ah but that's not quite true... if you hold the page down button for awhile you can create a very long list of archived items. Of course, once you leave the page you'll have to do it all over again, but the point is you can definitely have more than 20 archived items on the screen at a time. __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

07-07-2009, 05:23 AM	#5 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	I also just figured out that Google Reader will allow you to search for items in feeds that you subscribe to, even if that post precedes the date you began using Google Reader (does that make sense)? But, if I'm trying to catch up with old entries on a new feed, I just go to the original site and read them from there. __________________ I can't read your signature. Sorry.

07-07-2009, 09:24 AM	#7 (permalink)
dksuddeth Junkie Location: bedford, tx	am I the only one who initially read the topic title as 'looking for an ASS reader'? //mind in the gutter __________________ "no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

07-31-2009, 06:17 PM	#10 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	I guess I'm missing something sinc eI'm not familiar with NewsGator... how will this improve Google Reader? For that matter, how does it improve NewsGator? Seems to me like NewsGator is responding to customers who asked for a web-based version of their product with "why not just use Google Reader?" Well, if those customers wanted Google Reader, wouldn't they have already been using it? Can you explain what I'm missing here? __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

07-31-2009, 06:23 PM	#11 (permalink)
Jetée The Reforms Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition	From what I'm reading and seeing being toted by the site's founder, it seems as though they are being acquired by Google to improve the marketability of their services. I'm not sure at this point if Google aims to integrate what was featured by NewsGator, FeedDemon, and NetNewsWire into their already more advanced Google Reader (well, at least from trying three out of the four above, and what work best for me), or if Google aims to create both a desktop feed manager, and allow for their own Google Reader to be solely used in conjunction online with Gmail, it's still to be determined. But, whereas a little over a month ago, I saw all these entities as separate (Google, Newsgator, FeedBurner, and FeedDemon) they are all conveniently bundling amongst and unto themselves under the monolithic veil that is GoogleCorp. This can only be good news for me the consumer, right? __________________ As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi