RSS - What a Relief!!

This week in our Learning 2.0 we're learning about RSS Feed Readers. There are two very popular ones - Bloglines (it's been around longer) and Google Reader (part of the huge Google empire!).

I have accounts in both - for comparison purposes - but I have to admit a bias toward Google! I think it's easier to use, more intuitive and gives a better interface! I think, too, that Google Labs will continue to update and improve the Reader at a faster rate that Bloglines can achieve. My shared account at Google is here.

Having said that!! My shared account at Bloglines is here - but I'll be very honest - this is only a SMALL fraction of the total number of feeds I have at Google!! There are almost 50 there!! I do share some of the posts from my Google Reader on my blog - it's a simple process and allows me to add only those posts that I think might be of interest to others!

I appreciate RSS more every day - technology, libraries and the world is changing so fast and there's SO MUCH out there that's there's no way anyone could possibly keep up with the changes and advances that are happening. RSS allows me to quickly read headlines (or full posts) to determine if it's something that's pertinent to what I'd doing at the moment. I can keep up without spending tons of time searching (sometimes fruitlessly) through the Internet.

The one problem I've had is that some sites have SO much published all the time and I've found myself deleting feeds that are just too much or not enough on the topics I want to follow. For example: I signed up for the Today Show feed - but there was SO much that really didn't interest me that I gave it up!

As for Bloglines vs. Google - either works - I simply prefer Google! I also prefer a web-based reader. I have Internet Explorer 7 at home as well as Outlook 2007. Both of those, as well as Firefox, gather RSS feeds. The problem is that those feeds are only available from the computer with those programs!! Google & Bloglines are available anywhere and that's vital in the world of "on the go"!

PS - I've added a playlist of some of my favorite songs at the bottom of the blog - it doesn't aut0-start but feel free to listen or choose the song you'd like to hear!