I was recently pointed to RSSOwl by CracKPod on my post about adding Google Reader to the Firefox sidebar.  I’ve use different RSS readers ever since I’ve started subscribing to RSS feeds, and the one that I have stuck with the longest is Google Reader.  It’s just hard to beat being able to read your feeds from any computer and all of the features that comes with Google Reader.

I’ve used FeedDemon, which is a nice program that is able to synchronize with a webpage so you can access your account from anywhere.  However, I really don’t like FeedDemon too much.  One feature that I like about RSSOwl is that you can customize many shortcut keys.  I have my shortcut keys set up very similar to the way they are in Google Reader.

One thing that might confuse you if you are used to using Google Reader is that when you click on a folder it will not show all of the unread items in that folder.  You have to right click the folder and choose Aggregate Feeds.  A nice feature in my opinion is the search feature.  I really like the search feature in Google Reader, and RSSOwl’s search feature is a definite plus.  I can search for a term that I am looking for, and it will show me all of the feeds that are related to it.  I can then sort the results by Title, Date, Author, or Category.

Other features include being able to view only unread items, new items, and sticky items.  You could also choose to have RSSOwl minimize to the system tray, and tell it to notify you of new feed items.  There are many configurable options in the preferences window.

RSSOwl is definitely one of the better desktop RSS readers that I’ve used.  I’d like to see if maybe they could somehow integrate it with Google Reader so that I could access my unread items at any computer.  I noticed on the forums that there has been discussion about this.  I’m sure it wouldn’t be easy though.

Thanks CracKPod!