“Premier desktop RSS reader”

NetNewsWire is the desktop RSS reader of choice for Mac users.

Easy to use and filled with viewing modes and feed reading features, NetNewsWire makes for a great news reader for anyone hooked on RSS. Not only can you view full screen, in tabs or combined, but NewsWire also lets you sort items by attention or create smart lists to keep your items organized.

The RSS reader previews new items in the interface, which saves you the hassle of opening up your browser. You can also sort items by headline column, depending on the date, title or more.

NetNewsWire integrates perfectly on your Mac, working with numerous programs like Spotlight, iCal or iPhoto. You can also post items to del.icio.us. We also liked being able to automatically sync with the NewsGator service, great to follow feeds from anywhere.

Most of the time, NetNewsWire works smoothly, however if you're following a large amount of feeds, it can take some time to load them up. One thing that should definitely make you fall for the RSS reader though is that it is now completely free. It'll be hard to resist.

NetNewsWire is an excellent free desktop RSS reader with multiple viewing modes, integration with many software and auto syncing to NewsGator online.

Languages:

English

Recent changes in NetNewsWire:

New! UI update with new toolbar icons.
New! Performance and memory enhancements including an improved Combined View which uses multiple pages to display long lists of items.
New! HTML Archive feature - saves news items as HTML files on disk. These files are compatible with any web browser.
Desktop integration – Address Book, iCal, iPhoto, Growl, Twitterrific and more.
Great new look – improved Combined View, feed "cover art", full-screen mode, and tabs with thumbnails and animations.
Synchronized clippings – read your saved articles from the web or another NewsGator reader.
Microformat detection for contacts and calendar events.
Automatic checking for newer versions of the software.
Automatic download of podcasts and transfer to iTunes.
Smart lists to aggregate news from your feeds based on criteria.

OS requirements for NetNewsWire:

OS: Mac OS X

Minimum requirements:

Processor: PPC/Intel MHz
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later

Pros

Now completely free
Desktop integration
Multiple view modes
Sync with NewsGator online

Cons

Can take time to load feeds

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From the publisher of NetNewsWire

NetNewsWire is an easy-to-use RSS and Atom newsreader for Mac OS X. Its familiar three-paned interface—similar to Apple Mail—can fetch and display news from thousands of different websites and weblogs, making it quick and easy to keep up with the latest news.

Features:

News comes to you

Spend less time surfing. Let NetNewsWire do the work for you, as it gathers your news and tells you which items are new. Subscribe to feeds from all over the web—and from the built-in list of thousands of feeds in the Sites Drawer.

Tabbed browser

Open web pages in NetNewsWire’s browser, and see them the same as in Safari, but with the convenience of staying in the same window. NetNewsWire remembers tabs between launches, so you come right back to where you left off last time.

Searching

Search your news items with a standard Apple search widget—as in Mail and other applications.

Podcasts and enclosures

Automatically download podcasts and enclosures. Send podcasts to iTunes with with your choice of genre and playlist.

Smart lists

Gather news from all your feeds based on your criteria. It’s like smart playlists in iTunes—only for news instead of music.

Flagged items

Mark items that you want to keep—they stay forever or until you mark them as unflagged.

Synchronization

Keep your subscriptions, news item status, and even browser tabs synchronized between two or more computers.

Bloglines syncing

Read your Bloglines feeds with NetNewsWire for the best of both worlds, a rich desktop client and accessible-anywhere server.

Search-result subscriptions

Make special subscriptions that display results from search engines like Yahoo, Feedster, and Daypop, or from keyword searches at Del.icio.us, Flickr, and Technorati. Easily keep up with topics that interest you.

Widescreen view

The three-column view is perfect for laptops and today’s monitors that have more horizontal space.

Persistence

Tell NetNewsWire how long to keep news items, so you can still read them even after they disappear from the feed.

Scripting and Automator

Control NetNewsWire with AppleScript—and with Automator too, if you’re running OS X 10.4 or greater. Add commands to NetNewsWire via the scripts menu.