Online Aggregators

I'd like to represent a list of online Aggregators with their advantages and disadvantages:

Bloglines

Advantages:

• all major browsers supported (e.g. Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, Firefox)
• user-friendly especially for beginners
• free, web-based aggregator
• easy registration
• no advertisements
• contains its own directory of RSS feeds of thousands of websites
• personal email account for subscribing to newsletter emails (optional)
• allows privacy adjustments for personal blogs
• allows saved searches
• mobile version available
• 10 languages supported
• additional add-on tools for automated blogrolls and subscription buttons

NewsGator

Advantages:

• free (consumer-standard version)
• provides personalized news channel
• allows translation of RSS articles into email format
• synchronization of feeds in several devices possible
• browse and search feed capabilities save time on surfing
• allows keyword filtering
• blog headlines
• button-click automatic subscription to news feeds

Disadvantage:

• Outlook-based thus limited to Windows

My Yahoo

Advantages:

• Free web-based aggregator
• user-friendly
• customizable home page design
• button-click subscription to RSS feeds
• built-in directory and search tool for feeds
• wide variety of feeds e.g. news (science, technology, local), weather
• connects to all Yahoo features and services

Disadvantage

• banner advertisements

There are also lightweight RSS aggregator extensions which are actually plug-ins to existing internet browsers. An example of which is

Sage aggregator

Advantages:

• free of charge
• beginner-friendly
• reeds both RSS and Atom feeds
• allows feed discovery
• can be assimilated to Firefox bookmark (storage and live)
• allows OPML feed lists imports and exports
• customizable style sheets
• supports a wide range of locales e.g. Catalan, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Slovenian, etc.
• easy installation

Disadvantages:

• good for about 12 RSS feeds
• limited use to Mozilla-Firefox and Mozilla-Firefox supported browsers

Aggregators with podcasting capabilities

Aggregators with podcasting capabilities can automatically download media files, such as MP3 recordings. In some cases, these can be automatically loaded onto portable media players (like iPods) when they are connected to the end-user's computer.

Media aggregators are sometimes referred to as "Podcatchers" due to the popularity of the term "podcast" used to refer to a web feed containing audio or video. Media aggregators refer to applications, client software or Web based, which maintain subscriptions to feeds that contain audio or video media enclosures. They can be used to automatically download media, playback the media within the application interface, or synchronize media content with a portable media player.

Recently, so-called RSS-narrators have appeared, which not only aggregate text-only news feeds, but also convert them into audio recordings for offline listening.

RSS readers for Windows

I'd like to represent a list of RSS Readers, which are extremely good for Windows. Some of them have definite specifications due to the area of their working. Enjoy working with them!

Omea – one of the most fully featured RSS readers out there; can get a little slow as its database grows; free in its basic version, also has a commercial, advanced version with more features
 

Mozilla Thunderbird – Mozilla’s e-mail and RSS reader, supports skins and add-ons
 

Awasu – RSS reader with a customizable user interface, the ability to synchronize with other readers, bookmarking and annotation, and republishing of your feeds
 

GreatNews – integrates with Bloglines, and offers a very fast way to browse through your feeds
 

RSS Bandit – RSS reader that offers organization of your feeds through folders, as well as synchronization across several installations
 

IntraVNews – an RSS reader that integrates with Microsoft’s Outlook.
 

SharpReader – requires .NET framework, lets you organize feeds into folders, integrates with Feedster, can display new items via system tray popups
 

eCruiser – an RSS reader in Japanese
 

Juice – a pretty basic RSS reader
 

Opera – Opera web browser comes with a fully featured RSS reader
 

FeedDemon – Newsgator’s feed reader offering a high degree of customization, newspaper-style feed reading, synchronization with other Newsgator products, and feed search
 

Snarfer – a free RSS reader, with key features being river of news style view, embedded video display, synchronization with Bloglines, powerful search and filtering
 

Active RSS Reader – simple RSS reader with a very small hard disk and memory footprint
 

Feed Amasser – a very lightweight, freeware RSS reader
 

FeedExpress – a freeware, open source RSS reader; quite basic, but with some nice features, for example CSS customization
 

Crackfeed – a tiny systray based application that notifies you with RSS news as they come
 

HappyFish – RSS reader and podcast client, requires NET 2.0
 

Attensa for Outlook – RSS reader that fully integrates with Outlook, support OPML import/export, scheduling, republishing, and advanced feed organization
 

Briz RSS Reader – a very simple RSS reader
 

Particls – desktop RSS notifier and ticker with lots of options, also has a Firefox plugin
 

Anothr – RSS reader/bot for Skype/Gtalk/MSN

RSS functional components

The RSS function is made up of the following components:

• Feed reader
• Feed sources input
• Feed aggregator
• Feed results output

These simple components combine to provide a powerful RSS feed aggregator function that can be integrated with other applications in a variety of ways.

Overview of RSS functional components: 

• The feed reader component does the bulk of the job and focuses on obtaining feeds provided by a given feed source. A feed source is nothing but a URL at which a particular content provider periodically syndicates the content for a given information category. For instance, a feed source might point to a URL at which the New York Times publishes all its latest news blurbs about the business category/channel using the XML-based RSS format.
• The feed aggregator component takes several user-specified feed sources as input and then it invokes the feed reader component to get all feed items from each customized feed source.
• The feed sources input component defines and reads the details about the user-specified feed sources. The feed source details can be provided in the form of a string stored in system memory, via an input file, or as records in a database.
• The feed results output component stores the aggregated RSS feed item results received from a particular feed source. It can store the results as a string in system memory, into a file, or into database tables.

Because the Web is all about information, RSS will continue to play a central role in determining how that information is syndicated and disseminated in powerful and useful ways.

Pros and Cons of RSS Feeds

If you are struggling with the decision of whether to implement RSS feeds or not, consider the following pros and cons for webmasters who use RSS feeds as part of their content and communication plan...

Benefits (Pros Of Using RSS)

The benefits for a webmaster who opts to implement RSS feeds on their website are numerous: 

1. Saves Time
RSS feeds save time. RSS subscribers can quickly scan RSS feeds, without having to visit each and every website. Subscribers can then click on any items they are interested in, to get additional information.

2. Timely
RSS feeds are timely. RSS feeds will automatically update themselves any time new information is posted, so the information your subscribers receive via their RSS reader or news aggregator is timely.

3. Spam Free
RSS is free of spam. Subscribers don't have to worry about wading through huge amounts of spam in an attempt to get to the information they are actually interested in.

4. Opt-In
The RSS subscriber chooses what they want to see, and what information they wish to receive. Knowing they have full control, and that they do not have to provide any personal information to subscribe, they will be more likely to opt-in.

5. Unsubscribing Is Easy
It is also easy to unsubscribe from an RSS feed. If they do not like information contained in an RSS feed, they can simply remove the RSS feed from their RSS reader or news aggregator in order to unsubscribe.

6. Alternate Communication Channel
RSS provides you with an alternate communication channel for your business. And the more channels you provide, the more opportunities you have to connect with your customers and potential customers.

7. Expands Audience Through Syndication
The very nature of RSS is that it is designed specifically for syndication (i.e. publication by others). And wide-spread syndication can expand a company's reach and strengthen the company brand.

8. Can Increase Backlinks
When an RSS feed is syndicated, it can increase the number of links back to the original website. And additional incoming links will often help a website rank better in organic search rankings.

9. Increases Productivity
RSS increases productivity, allowing people to quickly scan new posts and headlines, and only clicking through and spending time on the items of interest.

10. Competitive
Whether you decide to implement RSS feeds or not, your competitors likely will. So one way to remain competitive is to implement RSS feeds and other web 2.0 technology, and not allow your competition to get ahead of you. 

Negatives (Cons Against Using RSS)

1. Not Widely Adopted Yet
Outside of technical circles, RSS has not yet been widely adopted. While it is becoming more and more popular, it is still far from being a mainstream technology.

2. Content Can Easily Be Copied
Content contained in an RSS feed can easily be copied and replicated, regardless of whether you want it to be or not. Few aggregators respect the copyrights of content contained in an RSS feed.

3. Tracking Subscribers Is Difficult
It is very difficult to accurately track the number of subscribers who read an RSS feed or the items contained in an RSS feed. This is due in part to the fact that at its heart, RSS is all about achieving the widest syndication possible.

4. Source Origination Difficult
It is sometimes difficult to discern the origin of an RSS feed item. When an item is syndicated, the source is not always indicated. The metrics available are not always reflective of the traffic received.

Weigh the pros and cons of implementing an RSS feed as a communication channel, and determine whether the benefits outweigh the risks in your own situation.