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2005-04-03

SharpReader vs. RssReader

That's the dilemma! Both SharpReader (current version 0.9.5.1) and RssReader (Current version 1.0.88.0) are FREE Rss/Atom readers.

I've been using RssReader for about a year now. There have been rare updates to it. The things I like about it:
  • Powerful & real fast search/filtering capability. So, if I am looking for say "usb", I put that in the Keyword field, and only the articles which have that keyword show up.
  • Interface is clean and simple
  • It used to be a memory hungry app but latest version trimmed it down considerable. It just uses a few megs now!

And that's about it. What I do NOT like:

  • You can not specify to have the read pane on the right as in Outlook 2003 (unfortunately it is the same in SharpReader)
  • It can import but can NOT export my feeds to the commonly used OPML format. Ie. I had to manually copy/paste all my feeds to SharpReader :(
  • If left on for an extended period, will start throwing atom/xml parsing errors instead of handling them and memory usage goes up!
  • When clicked on an item to view the whole story, it is usually slow to parse the page (SharpReader seems faster but I've been testing it for a day only)

It's still early to submit a judgment for SharpReader but it already annoys me not to be able to subscribe to a feed and immediately categorize it. Another early annoyance is the sort function which does not seem to work for categories...

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