Here a feed there a feed - there is just so much to read

MLG does RSS E.I.E.I.O.

I have used both Google Reader and Bloglines. I use the former myself but that is because I am in Google for other things frequently anyway. As the post title suggests there is no shortage of places to find RSS feeds to subscribe to. The real trick is not overloading yourself or learning to cope if (and let's face it when) you do. Inititally RSS aggregators were touted as the answer to information overload. In fact they have the potential to bring about even worse overload and much more information than any one person can ever consume. It is so very easy to subscribe at the press of a button and it means you keep up to date with that site and do not run the risk of forgetting about it and thus missing important stuff.

There are a number of ways to combat this problem that plagues us all. Some people suggest regularly culling your feeds, others suggest just reading the most recent posts until you get sick of it and making the rest as "read". Others still, think you should not get hung up on it at all - so it all depends on your point of view. I think I'm pretty much somewhere between not worrying and read the recent/interesting ones and mark the rest as read.

In terms of how the aggregators stack up I think both have their own merits. I kinda like how you can see the top 200 feeds in Bloglines although then you really risk serious info overload. Reader is good in that you can star your fave posts, and it has good shortcut keys!! Google gears lets you read the 2000 most recent posts off-line too, though I personally do not need this feature I have heard others find it very useful. Also with Bloglines if you click on the name of a feed it marks them all as read, so then you have to scroll through them all to catch the news. Google Reader you have to scroll through individual posts but it you really think you will not read the older stuff you an elect to mark it as read.

I tried Bloglines Beta today and I must say having the ability to drag and drop your fave feeds into a start page is kinda cool. Then you can see the first few posts of several feeds at once. I did not play too long so hopefully there is the ability to add other pages too. It has a nice overall look and feel too. I fear that in the end I am an awful awful person who is lured in by fun toys and shiny new things. Sigh!!!