Back in April I declared myself a Google Reader user, and ditched my trusty FeedDemon RSS reader and the accompanying NewsGator Online service. Google Reader was getting all the press, seemed to be on a roll, and had some features I liked. But after dealing with some frustration in Google Reader today when I went looking for my friend FeedDemon to get the job done – I had uninstalled it.
Luckily, the fine folks at NewsGator remembered me, and I had a new registered version of FeedDemon 2.5 up and running in minutes. I am pleased to say that the new beta of NewsGator Online is shaping up nicely, and they have added several of the features I liked in Google Reader – including simplified linkblogs.
Not only that, but FeedDemon is truly the king of RSS readers – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. With Google Reader I found myself installing GreaseMonkey scripts over and over to force Reader to work the way I wanted, or add a feature that should be in there anyway – I shouldn’t need to hack a Google application to add search capabilities.
Back in April I chastised NewsGator for wanting me to pay for a reader for my BlackBerry in addition to FeedDemon. Well, I’ve learned that you get what you pay for, and will likely be taking Kevin Cawley up on his offer to buy NewsGator Go!
Oh, and by the way – there are some cool GreaseMonkey scripts for NewsGator too.
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This is so true. Listing all of the reasons that google reader is frustrating would take more space than this one post. http://www.calebjenkins.com/v2/Default.aspx?tabid=1&mid=357&ctl=ViewEntry&EntryID=234
Does NewsGator have mobile web integration?
Caleb,
Yes, NewsGator has a free HTML mobile “client” which is pretty decent – at least as good as Google Reader mobile. It also syncs with the standard online reader as well as FeedDemon, so thats a plus.
They are now offering a BlackBerry specific (and other J2ME) mobile clients with enhanced features.
Nice to have you back, Chris
Wow, thanks Nick. And thank you for writing such a great piece of software. You should write a book (wink, wink.)
wow.. and it looks like the free NewsGator web based rss reader has Search! (google reader does not have search… ironic)
Thanks for sending me in that direction Chris.