LAWTECH GURU BLOG by Jeff Beard

FeedDemon 1.5 Beta Available

I chose FeedDemon as the best RSS Reader or News Aggregator for a prior Law Office Computing Shootout. It packs a ton of useful features into a very intuitive, fast, and polished package. One of the drawbacks of the version 1.1x series was the lack of synchronization between your PC-based FeedDemon channels and online RSS reader services. Thus moving between PCs caused certain challenges with maintaining your feed lists and syndicated content.

If you're an existing FeedDemon user, you just might want to check out the long list of new features and fixes in the current 1.5 beta release, officially designated the "FeedDemon 1.5 Release Candidate 1a (RC1a)". First, there's new integration with Bloglines for feed synchronization, including instructions. Synchronization support for NewsGator Online Services was also added in a similar fashion.

Other new features include an "Export All Groups to OPML File" item added to the File menu. This will create a single, categorized OPML file containing all of your subscriptions, so you don't have to manually export each channel group separately. Starting FeedDemon with the command line option "/ua" performs an "Update all groups" as soon as FeedDemon starts. Now you don't have to wait for each group to update individually nor invoke the "Update all groups" feature manually. New styles were also added, so you have more choices in finding a display format more to your liking.

These are evolutionary refinements to make a great RSS reader even better. Keep in mind this is a pre-release or beta, so expect some glitches. Given the relative tech edge of many of this blog's audience, somehow I don't think this will deter you much.