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From Brad Feld’s blog Feld Thoughts comes word that Newsgator is now making all of their feedreader software products available free of charge. Feld explains Newsgator’s reasoning in this article, and provides several links to related articles by Newsgator employees as well as links you can use to download the products or get more information.
I’ve used both Newsgator Online (which has been free all along) as well as FeedDemon (which used to cost 30 bucks annually) for over a year now, having switched to the Newsgator products from Bloglines. I’ve never regretted the switch at all, and both the online and installed versions of their readers are fast, full of useful functions and navigation capabilities, and just fun to use. And they synchronize with each other, so you can keep up with your reading from any computer anywhere, and either tool will always know how you handled your feeds with the other.
I also use Newsgator Online to build and maintain the My Blogroll and My News pages for this site. You can read more about how to do that in these two articles:
Creating a Semi-Automatic Newsgator Blogroll on Your WordPress Blog
Check out Feld’s article, poke at the links a little, and give Newsgator a try. You can even subscribe to afewgoodpens just to see how things work!
Update: I just wanted to add a link to this post by Nick Bradbury, the creator of FeedDemon, highlighting some of the differences between using a desktop and a web-based feedreader. As Bradbury points out, one of the great strengths of FeedDemon is the way it functions as a full-featured browser, allowing you to switch from reading feeds to visiting web sites instantly within the same session and windows. I originally used the online version more than the desktop version, but have recently switched, preferring the speed and flexibility of the desktop version when I’m on my computer at home, and typically using the online version only when I’m on a computer where I can’t install the software locally.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 6:58 pm and is filed under blogging, site updates, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
. I’m sorry to hear about plumbing problems at your house. I’m pretty sure that it is a quite distraction when you hope to be able to spend times on other interesting...
I’m currently considering migrating from my desktop based NetNewsWire lite to Google Reader — but the jury’s still out on that. Have you tried either of those, and how do you think it compares to Newsgator/FeedDemon?
I’m not familiar with NetNewsWire Lite since I’m not on a Mac platform, but I just noticed that Newsgator owns that and has released the full version along with all its other products as a free download. Take a look here:
http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/Default.aspx
Like FeedDemon, it provides synchronization with Newsgator Online, so you could alternate between desktop and web-based reading like I do and take advantage of the features of both products. I would also think that since you are using NewNewsWire Lite already, you probably can just run Newsgator Online with your existing account and have all your feeds show up without any migration. Not sure about that; maybe you’ll have to upgrade to the full version of NetNewsWire first (but it’s free!). Check out the feature list for the full NetNewsWire; it looks like it has everything FeedDemon does (FeedDemon is Windows only), along with some Mac-specific features too.
I’ve tried Google reader a few times by exporting my subscriptions from Newsgator Online and importing them into Google. I’ve never used it enough to compare its features to Newsgator Online; another way to say that is that I didn’t like it enough to switch. NGO had a lot more to offer for my purposes, especially the ability to set up custom locations and create the blogroll and news scripts that run on the “My Blogroll” and “My News” pages of this site. My general impression of Google reader is that it’s fine as far as it goes, but I just didn’t enjoy using it as much as NGO or FeedDemon.
Hope that helps! Thanks for stopping by!
I must admit I was completely unaware that it was the same company. Thanks for pointing that out, and the syncing — I need the full NNW for that, which I’m downloading right now to try out.
Your remarks on Google Reader pretty much reflect my own. It’s okay, but doesn’t make a long lasting impression.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I was actually surprised too … I googled “netnewswire” and ended out at the Newsgator home page!
I was wondering how you made out, and how you like the full version. Drop by and leave me an update when you get a second…..
Thanks!
Dale
The full version of NNW is much better than Lite (more features, faster). The best desktop reader I’ve tried so far.
Also signed up for NewsGator for syncing; it looks okay but I haven’t used it a lot yet. I’m sure it’ll come in handy to have a synced subscription lists though. Also, your method of posting a blogroll is pretty neat, considering my options in that department.