FeedDemon vs Online RSS Readers - Round II
Last week, we wrote ten advantages of using FeedDemon over Google Reader. Some readers however complained that it was an unfair comparison because Google Reader is free while FeedDemon costs $30.
It was such a beautiful coincidence because the next day, FeedDemon 2.6 was released as a free software so that further tilted the scales in favor of FeedDemon.
If you are still not convinced, Nick shares some more reasons for choosing a desktop reader over web based newsreaders like Google Reader and Bloglines:
1. Secure Feeds - Most web-based readers can’t subscribe to secure feeds (RSS feeds that require a password - like the Gmail Inbox feed).
2. Offline Reading - FeedDemon doesn’t just download your articles so you can read them offline - it can also prefetch the images they contain and the pages they link to, enabling you to browse the web without an Internet connection.
The only advantage of using a web reader is that you can access your feeds from multiple computers without having to install any software.
But consider this - Newsgator has special clients for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and the iPhone. And Mac users can get NetNewsWire which is also free and quite powerful.
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I don’t think it was a good idea to quote Nick as a factor to convince reader. You could have just let users to his view. Well, the reason is because he is the creator of FeedDemon!
I was the one who whined last time when you made the comparison. Making feeddemon free was one of nice gifts of 2008. Its available on all platforms, except linux. I just wish they would start developing for linux platform too. But, I know they wont :(
Well, I gave FeedDemon a quick try, but what I really like about Google Reader is… that I can read all of my feeds on one single page, by simply scrolling through it.
Seemed to me (but I didn’t spend too much time trying) that this was not part of the great features FeedDemon offers.
Prove me wrong and I might switch to feedDemon :)
Online and desktop feed readers have their shares of advantages and disadvantages. And you have got valid points out there. But this is becoming to look like a paid writeup.
At home, I use NetnewsWire and it is a great piece of beautiful software. Feeddemon is a little cluttered when compared to NetnewsWire, but still I agree that a desktop feedreader is better than a web based one.
We can’t label one is better than the other just because one offers more features that some or most users don’t have even need of. As Nick himself says, “I think the so-called battle between web and desktop apps is overblown. It’s a hybrid world, not an either-or situation.”
As for my opinion on the web-readers, the ease of use on Google reader is second to none. The web reader for Feed Demon doesn’t even come close.
I believe that stiff competition among products is good for the end-user and welcome the fact that FeedDemon is now free.
I have some differences on the points you made though.
Isn’t the offline browsing feature available in Google Reader as well? I have not tried it out yet but apparently “this feature enables you to read your 2000 most recent items even when your computer is not connected to the internet”.
I’ve read & liked the tip about using the secure Gmail Inbox feed through a RSS Reader when access to GMail is blocked, but noticed that although Newsgator allows subscription to the secure Gmail feed, it does not show the full post. I’m not sure if the problem is with the Gmail feed or the way it is consumed by Newsgator.
Google Reader + Google Gears = Desktop Blog Software
Google Reader + Google Gears + Greasemonkey = Desktop Blog Software with added features of FeedDemon
Amit - love Newsgator/FeedDemon, but can’t see if/how I can ‘tag’ posts in the same way that I can in Google Reader with my own keywords (like delicious) so that I can search/organise posts according to my areas of interest… any ideas/hints?