I love Newsgator and I’m not shy about saying it. Lately, though, it’s been painfully slow for me. Yesterday I listened to Mike Arrington’s podcast discussion with the heads of 4 online RSS readers, Newsgator included. (Plus Attensa, FeedLounge and Rojo) The show let me know that it’s ok to ask a lot of your feed reader. It’s like a limb to me, so I think I need to explore some alternatives. I had presumed that it was because I’m subscribed to 500 feeds that Newsgator loads so slow on every click. That may be true, but the in depth discussion I listened to yesterday makes me want to reevaluate more alternatives. I want something magically fast.

A couple of thoughts:

I’m on a Mac.

A desktop reader may work faster than a web based one, but if and when I get a mobile device that can synch with other feed readers then it would be nice to be ready for that. Newsgator offers a solid desktop reader that synchs with Newsgator online. I’d never considered synching a mobile feed reader until I’ve found myself on trains a lot over the last few months – wishing I could be reading feeds.

Second, it’s time to start paying for service. There are many free, online feed readers but I need a powerful tool and I’m willing to pay for value.

I need a “river of news” option, where items aren’t displayed together by feed but listed seperately by time posted.

I do want a browser bookmarklet to add a subscription from any page I’m on. Bloglines has one and I’ve got one from Blummy.com for Newsgator. I don’t want to be copying and pasting feed URLs.

I need good OPML import and export – like having folders maintained when I import a well organized OPML file (Bloglines, for example, doesn’t do this. )

I will probably look into Newsfire andNet News Wire. I should also look at Attensa. I am going to be looking for speed and usability when handling a load of 500+ feeds.

Any other suggestions?

Technorati Tags: RSS, feedreaders, Newsgator, Attensa, Rojo, FeedLounge, Newsfire, NetNewsWire