Friday 8 February 2008

FeedDemon - 14 days

I've been using FeedDemon for two weeks now. Here are my thoughts:
  • + I have two machines so the way sync'ing just happens is great.
  • + Gives me access to both internal and external feeds in one place. When I was using Google Reader I started ignoring Bandit and missed internal updates for extended periods.
  • + Reports to help me manage dead feeds. Probably comparable, although quite different, to Google Reader.
  • + Clip folders have given a bit more structure and context to posts that are of interest. I never really used the tagging in Google Reader.
  • - The toolbar for each feed (to flag, share, mark read etc) is at the top of the feed, so I keep scrolling up and down.
  • +- I initially missed the auto-mark-read-as-I-scroll feature of Google Reader, but now I'm not so sure. I quite like being in control of when feeds are marked read.
  • - I would to have the option for links to open in new tabs by default, instead I have to remember to click on the little icon next to the feed title. I guess once in the habit I won't mind this so much.
  • + Prefetch seems an excellent feature, although I haven't needed to use it yet.
  • - The keyboard shortcuts seems a bit odd. Ctrl-Shft-A to mark a feed as read, Ctrl-R to mark the whole folder of feeds as read. On the plus side you can configure all the keyboard shortcuts.
  • - FeedStation doesn't auto clean up on a per feed basis. Some podcasts are daily, some weekly or less frequent. I use Juice and will continue to do so.
So the big question. Google Reader or FeedDemon? Nyah, it's an easy one. FeedDemon, and for this one reasons (or is it really two) above all else:
  • Combined internal/external with the sync'ing between machines (at least for the external feeds)

1 comment:

Real Twitstable said...

Richard, totally agree with you and now just do not know how I lived withouth Newsgator. That said, some of the new stuff is I gather new (the online access to your feeds still is in beta it looks like).