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SharpReader - RSS News Feed Reader
SharpReader - RSS News Feed Reader
Heinz Tschabitscher
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SharpReader 0.9.7.0 - RSS News Feed Reader

From Heinz Tschabitscher,
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The Bottom Line

SharpReader is a great RSS feed reader that knows how to organize news and blogs in their logical order to make following them easy. Virtual folders and advanced searches would be logical next steps.
Pros
  • SharpReader threads articles and puts news in context
  • Integrating Feedster searches in a smart way, SharpReader makes you see more
  • SharpReader lets you organize feeds in folders
Cons
  • SharpReader does not support virtual folders
  • Lacking advanced or statistics-based filters, SharpReader does not auto-organize news
  • News items cannot be flagged or labeled in SharpReader

Description

  • SharpReader is an RSS/Atom feed reader with a three-pane interface.
  • SharpReader automatically finds relations between articles and threads them logically.
  • Feeds can be organized and read in folders, individual items can be flagged to organize them, too.
  • SharpReader integrates Feedster searches and lets you access Technorati link cosmos easily.
  • Using system tray balloon notifications, SharpReader can let you know when new news come in.
  • SharpReader can automatically purge old news (based on age or number of items).
  • You can subscribe to RSS feeds by simply dragging the link on SharpReader.
  • You can search SharpReader feeds and folders by keyword and filter articles flexibly.
  • Plug-ins let you go to a page to compose a blog entry or open w.bloggar from SharpReader.
  • SharpReader supports Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/3/XP and requires the .NET framework.

Guide Review - SharpReader 0.9.7.0 - RSS News Feed Reader

I've always thought of blogs being a bit like mailing lists.

SharpReader thinks so, too. It detects relations between articles (including Feedster search results) and threads them the way you know it from your email client. This great feature is another good reason why it makes more sense to post a reply to a blog posting not as a comment, but on your own blog.

SharpReader is not just for an organized display of blogs, though, it is a great and well-done all-around RSS feed reader. You can subscribe by dropping the [XML] link, organize feeds in folders, and SharpReader can expunge old news automatically. When news come in, useful balloon pop-up windows let you know (and can be disabled for every feed individually).

While SharpReader lets you flag news items (and then filter your news by flag), there's no way to make the flags, which are just numbers, easily distinguishable. Advanced filters and virtual folders that automatically collect related articles could be the logical next step in SharpReader's evolution.
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