I have written a number of times about the advantages of using RSS newsfeeds in place of normal web surfing as done with a web browser. For news-oriented web sites that you plan to visit often, RSS newsfeeds can save a lot of time as well as add convenience. In fact, the slower the connection, the more valuable an RSS newsfeed becomes. If you are using a dial-up connection to read articles such as this one, you can save yourself a lot of time by using an RSS newsfeed reader!
For further details, read my "Do You Know What an RSS Feed Is?" article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/08/do-you-know-wha.html.
In that article, you will note that I wrote, "There are hundreds of RSS newsreaders to choose from, and most of them are available free of charge. A few cost money but do offer advanced features. My current favorite is NetNewsWire for the Macintosh." This has not changed since I wrote those words; I still use NetNewsWire by NewsGator most every day to monitor many web sites, looking for changes and new information. (RSS newsreaders only work on sites that have RSS newsfeeds. This includes almost all blogs and news sites, as well as many others.)
The one thing that HAS changed is the price. I paid $30 for NetNewsWire about a year ago. Now, a newly updated and more powerful version has been released with one major change: it is now available to everyone free of charge. In fact, anyone who purchased one of NewsGator’s client applications (or renewed a subscription) on or after December 9, 2007, will automatically receive a credit on the credit card they used to make the purchase. That's a bit too late for me, but hopefully others can benefit.
You can read more at http://www.newsgator.com/CompanyInfo/FreeClientFAQ.aspx.
You also can download the new, free version of NetNewsWire for Macintosh OS X at http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/Default.aspx.
The same company produces RSS newsreaders for Windows and for handheld computer systems. Details may be found at http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals.
