Which RSS Aggregator is good ?

First of all, I would like to thank Thilak for letting me post (as a guest) on his blog. Before, I start off with the actual post; I would like to mention that it is always good to make posts as a guest blogger and all the new bloggers must work hard enough to score an opportunity like this. Now, let’s head towards the actual post…

We all read blogs and we get addicted to few blogs as we find the content interesting in those blogs and blogs are great source of knowledge too. Regular blog readers must be aware of the term Feed aggregators and most of them must be using them too, but for those who are not sure of this term must be wondering that what exactly it is and without wasting anytime of yours and keeping the secret to myself, I would love to explain this term. Feed aggregator is that software or web service, which lets you read the blog without visiting that blog and thus it becomes convenient for you (as a reader) to go through number of blogs and that too without wasting much of time. The blog gets updated there and you get the updated post in your Feed aggregator.

Now, there are two types of Feed aggregators:

1. Traditional desktop software.
2. Web based Feed aggregator.

So, this post is just to put some light on that which kind of web aggregator one should use. Whether they should prefer web based or they should use desktop software? I would like to highlight the benefits of both kinds of aggregators.

Benefits of Desktop based aggregator:

1. Content is saved on the hard drive : Although, web 2.0 applications are giving great competition to the traditional desktop applications but still majority of people still prefer to follow the OLD IS GOLD rule and that is they prefer that the data must be accessible @ any point of time and that too quickly.

2. Blog posting : Most of the good RSS aggregators allow you to blog directly from the software itself and thus it can be convenient for many bloggers, as they may not like to switch between two applications.

3. Extra options : It is noticed that the desktop aggregators have got more options than any other web based aggregator. When it comes to search feature, sorting feature and other features, which lets you easily manage the whole list of blogs. Because when the blog subscription list becomes long enough then, one wonders that how they’ll be able to manage that entire list and that’s where desktop aggregators are quite useful.

4. Some of the software’s : There are couple of software’s which have actually impressed me and they are; Great News , KlipFolio & Feedreader. The paid one which actually rules the desktop aggregators is Feeddemon.

Benefits of Web based aggregator:

1. You save on Bandwidth, internet speed & hard disk space : Any web based aggregator just displays you the updated content and thus you don’t have to download the whole content on your hard drive and thus you save on bandwidth. Although, that is not too concerning but when a long list of blog feed is refreshed by the software, then it actually reduces the internet speed and of course, you are not wasting any of the hard disk space either.

2. Simple and easy options : Although, having many features is always a good options but there are various things which can easily be neglected and are not used often and thus simplicity can be beneficial for those who are not fascinated with frills and features.

3. Various services : There are many free services which are available and let you easily go through various blogs and that too in no time at all. Some of them are; Google reader, Newsgator online, Bloglines etc.

My personal choice is Web based aggregator (that too Google Reader) and may be the reason for that is, I have slow speed internet connection (although it is broadband), and I’ve to go through a very huge list of blogs and thus it reduces the speed for other applications.

So, what do you prefer a web based aggregator or a software based aggregator? What ever software or web service you use, I’ll be grateful if you could share it with us, by posting about it in the comments.

Note : Hi, My name is Mayank Gupta and as I mentioned in the starting that I am thankful to Thilak for giving me the opportunity to guest blog @ TechBuzz. I maintain a tech blog and call it ReviewSaurus – The Techie Dino!. I hope that you will like my posts over here and the once already @ ReviewSaurus. Thanks to Landfood for the image.