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What is a news feed?

News feeds are an easy way for Web sites to share headlines and stories from other sites. They use Real Simple Syndication (RSS), form of XML that's used very commonly on the Internet.
 RSS feeds bring automatically updated information straight to your desktop. You can monitor news, blogs, job listings, personals, and classifieds. Instead of having to re-visit a web site to get news and updates, you subscribe to have those updates come automatically to you.
 

How it works

If you use a news reader, it will periodically check every every site you've subscribed to. It compares the XML file on the site to the one on your desktop, and downloads the news feed if it's newer.
Your news reader will display the downloaded news stories and keep track of which ones you've read, much like your email client. Some readers will pop up a little icons or alert, or even send you an email if you're following a topic very closely.
 
If you have an older browser and you click on a link to a news feed, you may get a page full of code. To properly read the feed, you'll have to get an RSS reader. Here are some of our picks for news readers:
 

Where to get a news reader

Standalone news readers:
RSSReader is a free, no-frills reader than you can download and run as a standalone application. It's pretty basic, but it's a good way to get started with RSS

Web-based news reader:
Newsgator Online works like web mail: it's a browser-based tool that keeps track of the feeds you subscribe to. Like web mail, it's free, but you have to remember to keep going back to the page to check your news feeds.

Add-on news reader:
NewsGator Inbox features a way to manage your news feeds within your Inbox if you use Microsoft Outlook. It has an elegant interface, and its completely integrated with Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. The downside: it's not free, so you'll have to buy a licensed copy to use it long-term.

FeedDemon has a much nicer-looking standalone reader, but you'll have to buy it, making it a less attractive choice if you just want to dip your toe in the water.