Everyone has their favourite RSS reader. Mine is FeedDemon for Windows.
I’ve been using FD since 2004 and have not switched to any other desktop app. I’ve simply not found anything better. Plus I like Nick Bradbury, the developer. We’ve never met but I feel as if I know Nick quite well from reading his blog over these years. Via RSS in FD, of course!
So it would take something extremely compelling to make me switch to something else.
In web-based RSS readers, it’s a different story.
One of the benefits I receive from using FD over the years is a business subscription to NewsGator Online, one of the major web-based RSS readers. I got my subscription free from being part of one of the FD beta testing programmes a few years ago.
In 2005, NewsGator acquired FeedDemon. One of the results from that was tight integration between NGO and FD. That means all your RSS subscriptions are synchronized between the two services – on your desktop and on the web.
Useful for when you need to access your subscriptions and you don’t have the computer handy where you have FD installed.
I’ve never really taken any advantage of that benefit because I don’t use NewsGator Online. It’s rare that I am away from base without my travelling laptop on which I have FD installed.
And, frankly, I find Google Reader a much better web-based RSS reader. If I ever need to use a web-based reader – such as demo-ing RSS in a presentation I’m making – that’s the one I use.
Which brings me to a question in my mind.
Today I received an email notification from NewsGator that my subscription to NGO is due for renewal in a week’s time. My inclination is to not renew it but to let it expire. Unless I’m missing a massive benefit of paying for a subscription, that’s what I’m going to do.
If you use NGO, what would you recommend? Should I cough up the cash and buy a subscription?
3 responses to “NewsGator or not”
As far as I know NGO is a free service. I have a FeedDemon license and I’m very pleased with it. I keep NGO “just in case” I need it “outdoors”. You can also make use of a relatively new feature called “my clippings” and sync with FeedDemon. That is, you can share your feeds with others. Overall I must say that NGO has become nicer recently when they moved to a more “ajaxian” style.
By the way, I used to have a free Premium Package. When that subscription was due for renewal it would become a paid service. But I got the option to change my subscription to the free NGO which I did. If NG is going to charge me I think I move away from NGO, because I hardly use it.
Regards.
I thought the basic NGO service was free too.
I use that (infrequently) alongside Feedemon and the Windows Mobile client too – as I work on three PCs and a PDA the synchronisation is priceless.
And yes the recent upgrade to clippings/newsbins that synchs them is great too.
It’d take a lot for me to move away, but I don’t think I’d pay for the web-based reader, but no-one has ever asked me too!
Yes, the basic NGO service is free. I guess what I’m getting emailed about is the paid enterprise service.
I’ve found it a bit confusing. For instance, when I ran FeedDemon this morning, it popped up a dialog saying my NGO subscription is due for renewal and do I want to automatically renew. I can’t tell whether that means free or paid. So I said no.
But I just checked my account at NewsGator. It says I have the NewsGator Online Premium Package. It also says that when the account expires I’ll have the option to renew, or change to a free account.
So I’ll wait until that eventuality.