12 frogs read think get curious

Feed, Discover, Sync, Repeat

I’ve been playing around with another feedreader, BlogBridge. Up until this week, I’d been using Shrook on the powerbook and FeedReader on the thinkpad. It isn’t that I couldn’t leave well enough alone — things weren’t well enough.

Some of the (possibly idiosyncratic) things that were bugging me:

No consistency. Tiny things like a space bar tap to advance to next item working in Shrook but not in FeedReader really got on my nerves.

Giant unread numbers. I had created a group called “thinkpad feeds” in Shrook, so I could keep up with those feeds when I didn’t have my thinkpad. Granted, this hardly ever happens. But if I’m going to read onscreen, the powerbook really kicks the thinkpad’s ass, so why not use the powerbook? Plus, bonus points for Lisa no longer being sure if I am working or not.

Not being in sync. If I were using a web-based reader, I wouldn’t have this problem. True, but then I’d also have access to my list of feeds at the mercy of some service, I wouldn’t be able to read things when I wasn’t online, it would be slower, and… sorry, I just think most of the web readers still suck, particularly if you keep track of a decent number of feeds.

Missing things. I just have that nagging feeling that I’m missing things because my system isn’t seamless. That it should be easier to not just track but discover good feeds.

BlogBridge, despite a couple of hiccups getting started (or maybe it was just my expecting an utterly instantaneous sync of 150+ feeds without reading any documentation) fixes all these problems. It is java based, so it generally works and looks the same on both the powerbook and the thinkpad. Because whichever computer I’m on knows what I’ve been up to, the truly giant unread number goes away. I swear, some of the people I’m subscribed to really must have no life because they post all the damn time, and even worse, it is usually good.

I’m getting more interested in OPML and reading lists, and I think BlogBridge is going to let me poke around in ways the other readers can’t. Not mention that they say they are designing for info junkies, and their expert selected subject matter feeds include library blogs.

If you’ve read all the way to the bottom of this post, you are either already using their service (so leave a comment and tell me about it), or you need to start.

I finally installed a feed reader - RSS Popper for Outlook. Best way to keep up with all changes on the wiki, and I figured I’d see what you are talking about as well. ttyl

Was that a slam on library blogs? Ouch! (Eek, I read to the end of the post, and I was so happy with Newsgator!)

Not a slam at all — I saw the inclusion of library blogs as a plus. (Confession: I have an MLS.)

I am happy that you read all the way to the end. Perhaps I should amend my statement to “you are already using a feedreader or you need to start.” Care to say why you are so happy with Newsgator?