Comparing RSS Feed Readers: Bloglines, Voyage, NewsGator, and FeedEachOther

With hundreds newspapers, magazines, blogs, and sites it has become even more difficult to keep up with the latest stories. So what’s the best way to handle the information overload? Web 2.0 has a tool for the job, letting users compile feeds from their favorite sites and sources into one easy to handle application. We are, of course, talking about RSS feed readers, which can be used to not only keep up with the news, but in some cases organize and archive them as well.

For this comparison review we looked at the feed readers with a couple things in mind: how they presented the feeds, how easy it was to find feeds, and whether there were ways to organize the feeds. We’ve shown some of the differences in the chart below, and we’ll talk about the applications in greater detail after the chart. For full reviews of the applications click the application logo at the end of the comparison.

FeedEachOther is a feed reader that allows users to manage their feeds, in addition to presenting them in a clear and readable fashion. Much like NewsGator and Bloglines, it divides the page into a large reading panel (on the right) and a navigational panel (left). One of the best features of FeedEachOther is the option to view feeds in a list or expanded view. The expanded view supports images and lets users see the whole post - a useful feature if your feeds include image based blogs. There is also the option to see all the feeds in a list view (ordered chronologically), or separated into groups of your choice, which they call channels. Sorting options also include sorting feeds by name, popularity, view count, frequency, and to help you reference your feeds you can tag them.

Yet the real difference in FeedEachOther is the social component, which allows users to share their feeds with others or keep feeds private. If you are looking to discover feeds, or find people with similar interests, FeedEachOther offers more than suggested feeds and searches (they do this too). Through their Share button you can sample other users’ feeds and make connections, using one click to bring up a page of popular users and new members to browse for feeds you may like. Feeds can also be shared across Facebook and Friendfeed. Some users may find this a distraction from feed managing, yet with the ability to import/export feeds, quickly add feeds with a browser bookmark tool, and downloadable widgets, FeedEachOther is a capable newsreader.

If you were to go only by the chart above, Voyage would seem a poor choice for a reader, but Voyage’s unique visual approach makes it an entertaining choice for users that just want to catch up on the latest feeds. On a gray background with white text, Voyage puts the user’s feeds in layers, the newest up front, with older items diminishing in intensity as they appear to go back in space. The effect is a 3d reader that you can move with the mouse and click anywhere to choose the story you are interested in. Adding and dropping feeds is easily handled through the management pop up box at the bottom, with each feed getting its own color.

For users that require only a few feeds, Voyage is a compelling way to read the feeds, but the simplicity of Voyage will be its downfall for heavier users. There is no way to organize or discover new feeds, and once there are ten feeds the interface becomes so crowded that the headlines begin to overlap. Importing and exporting feeds is not possible, and the interface is too graphic for mobile users.

Also capable of tagging posts is the robust reader NewsGator, which in addition to the ability to add feeds by import or search, offers packages of feeds by topic to get you quickly on your way. Find feeds by category, recommendation, adding them with OPML (import/export), or use their “Smart Feeds” feature to search the internet for a keyword and create a custom RSS for it. If you wanted to search for an uncommon subject, this last option gives you up to the minute information on the subject.

With NewsGator every post can be tagged, clipped for later reading, or emailed through links below the post. Folders can be created to help organize your feeds, and feeds can be sent to your email reader (Outlook, Entourage) for convenience. The downside to NewsGator is that the recommended feeds seem unlikely recommendations, but with this minor quirk aside, NewsGator is an effective feed reader.

Of the readers Bloglines was able to do it all: offer a reader, organize feeds, and notify you when you have new posts to read. Beginning with the two panel approach common to NewsGator and FeedEachOther, Bloglines allows you to clip posts for later, search for topics by post, feed, citation, or web, import and export your feeds, and easily add feeds with a browser bookmark tool. Suggestions for new feeds are made easy with links for related feeds, a quick link of the top 1000 feeds, recommended feeds, and a link to an “Image Wall,” where an ever-changing grid of images from the blogosphere can be used to suggest new feeds.

The features of Bloglines that are most interesting are the ability to make a blog - either a public or private page with its own url - and the Playlists. Playlists are feeds that the user chooses to put into a custom list for quick reading. For users that want to keep a lot of feeds but need to keep a few feeds under close watch, this is an ideal feature. The blog acts similarly to Clippings, but with the blog users can save posts with annotations or write their own posts. With the url from the blog this makes sharing your favorite stories simple, and users that like what you choose can create their own feed of your blog. Temporary emails let blog users also email posts they want to make directly to their blog.

The pitfall of Bloglines is that by default feeds are shown with only a brief synopsis, which means that the full benefit of the list and expanded view is lost. There is also no directory of feeds, but these are minor complaints for a versatile feed reader and manager.

With the exception of Voyage, all the readers reviewed had support, either in a downloadable client or a streamlined site, for mobile users. Only FeedEachOther allowed sharing across social networks, but Bloglines allows sharing by either the blog or an exportable blogroll of feeds. In the end we found that each had a strength, depending on its use. Voyage is an ideal reader for short feed lists, FeedEachOther is ideal for users who want a social side to their feeds, and NewsGator is a easily organizable reader for heavy users. Bloglines is the most well rounded of all, and an excellent choice for heavier users that like to share what they find and give their opinions. To read more about there applications you can follow the links through the logos below, or use the Listio search: RSS+manage.

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Tags: compare, feeds, manage, news, orgainze, read, rss
Posted in: Product Comparisons, RSS Reader | Respond
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