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Over the past year, I've flip-flopped between various versions of these two RSS apps, using each for months at a stretch. Here's my updated comparison of the two.
- The integrated Usenet newsreader in Newzcrawler is very handy, and a natural addition to this kind of tool. I fully expect apps like Forte's Agent to grow RSS aggregators very soon.
- NC's integrated Blogger/Metaweblog client is useful, but I prefer FeedDemon's approach. A generic blog editor just can't give me the full functionality I expect when I want to post something... so let me click "Blog This" and have a new browser open and navigate to my blog's native posting page.
- The ability to have all subscribed feeds updating constantly in the background is a baseline necessity, and it's a huge point in NC's favor over FD.
- Nested folders for feed organization is something that NC gets exactly right. Particularly with the way it highlights folders with new items and includes a new item count, both of which help me to quickly scan for new stuff. I can get in-and-out of NC far more quickly than with FD.
- Item header display still needs some work in Newzcrawler. I want to have the option of exposing arbitrary RSS elements as sortable columns, although in fairness, nothing but Newsgator currently scratches that itch. All that aside though, I must say that FeedDemon's Outlook-style auto-preview is sorely missed when I'm using NC.
- Giant oversight in NC... no "open in external browser" button on the integrated browser's toolbar. In fact, Nick's app does a better job with the browser in almost every way, especially when it comes to disabling pop-ups.
- ...BUT... FeedDemon doesn't currently support using Mozilla as the embedded browser. Newzcrawler mercifully does.
- I generally prefer Newzcrawler's search functionality, though I don't consider search a make-or-break feature in an aggregator, and FD is just fine in that respect.
- NC's default stylesheet is a bit on the unpretty side. FeedDemon, OTOH, always puts forth an attractive, readable face to the user.
- The ability to hide all folders and feeds without unread items in Newzcrawler is absolutely brilliant! Nothing similar exists in FeedDemon.
- Throughout my time with Newzcrawler, I've always found its approach to autodiscovery rather annoying. The pop-up window is just cumbersome and takes up taskbar real estate. This is one area where FeedDemon is the clear leader in usability.
- On the other hand, kudos to the NC team for rapid support of the feed: protocol, which is arguably more important than autodiscovery. (Registered versions of FeedDemon feature similar support, but I haven't been able to try them out.)
- After a shaky start, NC's subscription wizard is now on par with the best in the business... namely FeedDemon. So no complaints about either app.
- While the "Find Duplicate Channels" command in FD is admirable and does its job, it's not quite what I'm looking for. I prefer the FeedDemon approach, which is to treat duplicates in different folders as pointers to a single subscription... update a feed in one folder, and all instances of that feed are updated.
- Some feeds still follow the ancient, annoying practice of having their primary point at a third-party site. When I'm viewing an item from such a feed in NC, it takes extra work to navigate to the offending site... FD makes it a bit easier.
- Support for auto-downloading, semi-threaded comments... an absolutely killer feature that most of the commercial aggregators are still missing. Bravo Newzcrawler! The lack of such a feature in FeedDemon really holds it back.
- NC's "Make Newspaper" is okay as far as it goes, but IMO, it occupies the wrong space in the interface. When I click on a folder or a feed, a newspaper for that item should be automatically generated and displayed in the integrated browser window... which is exactly the way FeedDemon handles it.
Summary:
If I were choosing an RSS app based upon fit and polish, FeedDemon would be the winner without question. It's a slick, professionally designed app that is smart enough to steal from the best... namely, Outlook 2003. It gets all the small things exactly right.
But the aggregator market is still in its infancy, and as with any rapidly evolving technology, the feature set is king. When it comes to features, nothing even comes close to Newzcrawler. Support for integrated comments, nested folders, background updates, and a host of other things leaves me unwilling to turn anywhere else.
Of course, both are fine products, and you can't go wrong either way. Congratulations to the respective development teams for jobs well done.
What's your favorite aggregator?
03-27-2004 04:27:08PM - Permalink - Post Reply - Read Comments [2] category: Staff
related topics: (newsreaders) (aggregators) (RSS) (Atom) (syndication) (Newzcrawler) (FeedDemon)