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My Subscriptions (import the OPML files into your favorite reader).

In case you don't know what RSS/ATOM feeds mean, I'd recommend that you take a few seconds to read the following articles

BBC : The really simple future of the web , What the hell is RSS ? , How To Speed-Read the Net , Hindustan Times: What is RSS? , All about RSS

I'm trying really hard to find a fully functional RSS/ATOM free feed reader for the Mircosoft Win2K platform.

And, here's my order of preference

1. FeedDemon (This costs $30)
2. Sharp Reader
3. Sauce Reader
4. Pluck
5. Bottom Feeder
6. Free Reader
7. Ampheta Desk

For a brief review and my opinions on the above, please read towards the end of this page. For a second opinion, you may try here.

You can get a substantial listing of currently available RSS/ATOM feed readers from
Weblogs Compendium - RSS Readers , RSS Readers (Google Listing)

Remember to get a feed reader that has support both for RSS and ATOM feeds (sauce reader has necessary support). For readers capable of supporting ATOM, visit http://www.atomenabled.org

Top 100 Most-Subscribed-To RSS Feeds (many such lists are available, just google):
http://feeds.scripting.com/rankings , http://subhonker6.userland.com/rcsPublic/rssHotlist

Some sites which give you info on various feeds that are available are
http://www.2rss.com , http://www.syndic8.com , http://www.feedster.com

Feeds that I subscribe to are available as an OPML file from here (import them into your favorite reader).

For those who want to take a look at a blog, try visiting http://sudhir-lp.blogspot.com. The good thing is that Google (my favorite search engine) makes blogging very easy with it's "Blog This!" feature available via the Google Toolbar. As of now, this is available only for IE (my not so favorite browser). And you need to have an active blog from Blogger. For the unitiated, Blogger can now provide your blogs as ATOM feeds (all for free !). The power of Blogging has been amplified with tools like w.bloggar.

My Ultra brief Review and Opinions on the listed RSS/ATOM Readers:

The best I've seen so far is FeedDemon - http://www.feeddemon.com
However it has turned paid mode ($30) since I tested the earlier beta versions :(

I'm currently (16-Mar-2004) looking at Sharp Reader and it's quite nice. Have to see if they have the same pains that were in Sauce Reader (possible memory leak).

Sharp Reader - http://www.sharpreader.net

Sauce Reader came a close second (as on 2-Mar-2004). However, I'm beginning to have some concerns regarding it's memory management and sluggishness. Sometimes it's memory usage  goes upto 170Mb and renders your system totally useless for a couple of mins :( However, if you are lucky, it can work for you ! And it's free for personal use and almost comparable to FeedDemon in terms of functionality.

Sauce Reader - http://www.synop.com/Products/SauceReader/
(free for personal use, requires a .NET runtime framework installation)

All three of the above (FeedDemon, Sharp Reader, Sauce Reader) offer integration with Blog posting tools like w.bloggar.

The next best free thing is Pluck from http://www.pluck.com
It's embedded in IE, but is quite functional, elegant. The "thing" is that it has a couple of neat functionality still to come. I'm hopeful and am keeping my fingers crossed.

Bottom Feeder - http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/BottomFeeder
is a close follower for free readers in terms of functionality, but the inbuilt browser isn't exactly upto standards in terms of rendering and leaves much to be desired.

Other feed readers that I've used are:

FreeReader - http://www.freereader.com
AmphetaDesk - http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/

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