Main points to know about RSS Aggregators

Information, which everyone should know about 
RSS Aggregators:

1) RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication and Rich Site Summary. RSS is an XML-based format for content distribution.

2) An RSS feed is a set of instructions residing on the computer server of a Web site, which is given upon request to a subscriber’s RSS reader, or aggregator. The feed tells the reader when new material — such as a news article, a blog posting, or an audio or a video clip — has been published on the Web site.

3) Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allows you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.  

4) Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs. 

5) Websites summarize content in an RSS feed. Visitors download an RSS readers. There are generally two different types of RSS readers. The first kind of feed reader is a self contained program, the second kind of feed reader use a web browser. Visitors select the content and summaries they wish to view in a news aggregator or RSS reader. Each time the feed is updated the content being viewed in the RSS reader indicates that there is new content.

6) Atom being a newer format than RSS, not all aggregators are capable (as of February 2004) of reading Atom feeds. 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.  

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.

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.