RSS Switch-a-roo
The main way I get all of my news updates is through RSS. I use the most-excellent Growl notification application to let me know whenever a new post comes in, and I make it a point of clearing out my feeds every day. With around 50 blog subscriptions, this can take a bit of time, but it is a great way to unwind at the end of the day.
Up until this weekend, I had been using a fantastic piece of open source freeware, Vienna, as my RSS reader. It can be configured to have a column-based browse interface, which I find the most effective, and has an elegant and light-weight user interface. Also, there is an integrated browser, which means you don’t have to leave the app to diver deeper into a post. However, as the number of blog subscriptions I read has continued to grow, Vienna has started to choke. The app began to consistently freeze up when trying to refresh the feeds, and this sometimes would cause open browser tab to be lost when the app restarted after crashing. I finally got fed up with the problem and decided to find another reader.
Luckily NewsGator has made their RSS reader, NetNewsWire, available as a free download. This app can be configured to run in a similar way as Vienna, and offers the added benefit of being able to sync your subscriptions across machines through an online account. In order to get my subscriptions out of Vienna and into NetNewsWire, I just exported the OPML file from Vienna to my desktop and then imported into NetNewsWire. My one piece of advice here would be to make sure you have read all the posts in your old reader, since OPML doesn’t preserve read/unread.
Getting into the swing of things with NetNewsWire has been a painless process. It isn’t plagued by the slowdown or crashing problems like Vienna was. The one problem is that the shortest automated refresh interval you can set is 30 minutes, which is a bit long for me. You can still refresh manually, and that is a small price to pay for stability. Plus, I dig that there is an iPhone interface through NewsGator.
So, while I am sad that I can’t be supporting open source through using Vienna, I am quite happy with NetNewsWire, but will check back in with my old friend from time to time in the hope that maybe things have changed for the better.
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chromatic said
on April 29 2008 @ 7:39 am
Love the NNW interface, but I have to say I’m not as happy with the iPhone integration as you seem to be. It doesn’t seem to matter how often I hit the Sync News Item Status menu item, the web version and desktop version only rarely seem to talk to each other. Have you noticed sync weirdness as well?