Will RSS Readers Clog the Web?

        News aggregators may be the best new tools to appear on the Web since the browser, but as the programs and the underlying RSS standard grow more popular, some question whether the Internet will be able to handle the traffic. 

            Aggregators, sometimes called newsreaders or RSS readers, are a hybrid of a Web browser and an e-mail program, allowing Web users to peruse hundreds of information sources. The beauty of an aggregator is that it displays articles from hundreds of websites in one place, so the user doesn't have to pull up the sites individually.

            But some are wondering: What happens when everyone discovers the power of aggregators? Will the Web be able to handle it? In Internet boom-speak, will it scale? 

            Already, aggregators have swamped some sites, slowing Web servers and eating up expensive bandwidth, according to bloggers and other Web publishers. The end may be near, unless something changes soon.

            Some think a solution to the problem might be found by integrating desktop applications into a peer-to-peer network, which would distribute the load among hundreds of clients. A central server would coordinate various readers, allowing some to check the original source of the information and passing on new information.

            Still, the explosion of RSS readers shouldn't overwhelm servers as long as the readers use the right protocol. If implemented properly, the check for new content is an "infinitesimal" burden.

Aggregators and Atom

           Atom being a newer format than RSS, not all aggregators are capable (as of February 2004) of reading Atom feeds. Many new versions of aggregators are, a comprehensive listing of which is available at The AtomEnabled Directory. 

           Some websites produce only Atom feeds and not RSS feeds (most notably those published using the Blogger software), so if you want to read the feeds of these websites, or want to make use of the advantages of Atom feeds, then you would want an aggregator that can understand Atom. 

           If you enjoy using an aggregator that doesn’t understand Atom, but you still want to read websites that syndicate in Atom but not RSS, you can use a tool that converts Atom feeds into RSS feeds, such as Atom2RSS, by 2RSS.