Reading RSS Feeds with Feed Demon
Using a Desktop Feed Reader to Follow Your Favorite Websites
Many websites today, offer subscriptions to syndicated content. Feed Demon, a Windows based desktop reader is a great way to manage these subscriptions.
Internet content everywhere has been given new life with the insurgence of RSS and all of the reader applications that support it. The feed phenomenon is everywhere, even here at suite101.com readers can subscribe to aggregated listings of the posts in a category, the latest articles posted, and other things which bring the content to them as it is updated in an application called a feed reader.
There are several applications or add-ons to web browsers that can handle feeds but one application seems to stand out above the rest: NewsGator’s FeedDemon.
How Is Feed Demon Different?
First it is desktop-based. This means that the application must be downloaded to your computer and installed before it can be used. With the wave of online reader applications from companies like Google and Bloglines, a desktop reader may take the back seat, but really it shouldn’t.
Next, Feed Demon uses the Newsgator subscription service to manage feeds that you are subscribed to. Allowing users to see all of the feeds they are subscribed to on multiple computers, using Feed Demon.
To use this feature, you will need to create a free account at Newsgator which will allow the subscription service to collect your feeds and keep all of your computers in sync.
For example, suppose you have subscribed to your favorite blog using Feed Demon. When you add the feed, you will be asked to categorize it into a folder. This folder will be synchronized with your newsgator.com account, storing your new feed for faster sync and portability across multiple PCs.
When you install Feed Demon on multiple computers, you can supply your newsgator.com user id and password, this will allow any of the computers you have configured to connect to your account and obtain the feeds you are subscribed to.
Other Features
You can also specify which feeds, stored in your newsgator.com account will synchronize with which computers. For example, you may wish to subscribe to financial blogs at work and read them only on your work PC because they relate somehow to your job. However you may have your best friends blog feed in your feed list on your home computer and may feel this blog is not something you wish to see at the office. Feed Demon and your newsgator account will facilitate this. To choose feeds for a particular computer complete the following steps:
- Login to your newsgator online account
- Select the Manage Feeds link on the top right hand side of the page
- Click the pencil icon, at the right of the row, to edit a particular feed
- Check the boxes for the locations you wish to see this feed
Note: When you install Feed Demon, you will need to provide an instance name so that newsgator.com can identify the location for this installation
Feed Demon also introduced a Panic Button feature to help keep feeds manageable. This feature alerts a user when there are feeds with items older than 48 hours (or other criteria) and allows them to be marked as read all at once.
Most Compelling Reason To Try Feed Demon: Cost
The price: Free. Both the subscription to newsgator and the Feed Demon application are free. Using this application to bring the content you read right to you is definitely a step in being more productive on the Internet. Give it a try, it might just change the way the web surfs for you.
