Good news reader??

[psyjohn]

Can anyone recommend a good offline news reader? I have faithfully used AvantGo for 6 years, and I have finally had enough. When it works AG is a great ap, but I want to be able to count on the news items being there without reinstalling at least weekly, and resynching in order to see information that I have already synched to get. :evil:

I have tried Spb Insight, but I was not at all satisfied with the content. Some of the things that were supposed to be full article content were only RSS feeds, and many of the RSS feeds were only single line.

I also tried MobiPocket based on some recommedations I had seen on this site, but the UI is absolutely bewildering. I am not a programmer/developer, but I have taken some programming classes in high school and college (many years ago), and have been a computer user since the TRS 80 days, and I think I should be able to figure out how to use a reader application.

So, if anyone has a suggestion for a reader that will allow me to download web content (with relative ease) :wink: for later offline reading, I would greatly appreciate it.

If it helps, I am using WM2003. The content I am most interested in is the NY Times, NY Times book reviews, CNet news, and science news, along with some assorted blogs.

Thanks,
John

[Ilium Software]

Hi,

I'm a bit biased but I'd suggest that you try NewsBreak (http://iliumsoft.com/site/nw/newsbreak.htm). It has auto-updating, notifications, keyword tagging, and filtering options.

It supports podcasts and other attachments and enclosures.

It is extremely easy to find and add new channels letting you import, choose from the built-in list, or search using Microsoft Live Search or Syndic8 (your choice!)

As for channel data, it will provide you with whatever content the news provider offers, so if they offer a full article we'll present the full article.

Give it a shot! I think you'll like it.

Marc Tassin
Ilium Software
--------------------
[email protected]
+1 (734) 973-9388
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http://www.iliumsoft.com

And be sure check out our blog! http://blog.iliumsoft.com/

[schmenge]

Hi,

As for channel data, it will provide you with whatever content the news provider offers, so if they offer a full article we'll present the full article.



I think that is a good point. In general it is not so much the news reader that is preventing full articles as it is the feed not providing them. I don't have the same bias, but I also use Newsreader. :)

[LPC]

Not sure if this is exactly what your after but I use SPB Insight (http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/insight/?en). Works like a dream for me :).

[stlbud]

Did you find a solution. I'm a frustrated AvantGo user too. Seems to take longer and longer to sync each day then I end up with a lot of timed out messages. I like the articles though. Sad it's not as reliable as it once was.

[psyjohn]

I settled on SPB Insight. I didn't like it at first, but Newbreak didn't thrill me either. Insight allows me to read full articles from most sections of the NY Times, my favorite blogs, Yahoo News, etc. while standing in the checkout line or while waiting for a meeting to start.

I've been wanting to try out Sunnysoft's World Off-line for a while but haven't had time lately. Here is a link if you want to take a look:
http://sunnysoft.com/software.php?idarticle=98

My suggestion would be to try Insight and Newsbreak (and possibly World Off-line) and see which one best allows you to read the content you want to see. Good luck, I'm afraid our non-converged devices may be going the way of the 8-track player. :lol:

[Carty]

I seriously like IliumSoft' NewsBreak as its more better in memory management with a snappier UI. But unlike SPB Insight, it doesn't give me an option of complete offline browsing. Meaning, the pictures are downloaded only when the articles are being read.

Some people dont want to loose their wireless bandwidth and would like the feeds to be updated when they sync with their PC. Am I right?

Regards,
Carty..

[anatolyv]

Try mDigger. I am using it on a daily basis. It is pretty light and is much faster than Avantgo. You can read everything offline. They are not just doing RSS feeds, but regular sites as well.
www.mdigger.com.

[anatolyv]

Try mDigger. I am using it on a daily basis. It is pretty light and is much faster than Avantgo. You can read everything offline. They are not just doing RSS feeds, but regular sites as well.
www.mdigger.com.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that unlike others, mDigger is free!!!

[psyjohn]

I just tried out mDigger and I'm very impressed. I will still continue to use Insight for some specific content, but mDigger has more content than I could possibly find time to read in one day. Outstanding!!

[Gina]

Thanks for trying out mDigger, psyjohn, and thanks for mentioning us in the first place, anatolyv!

You said that you use SPB Insight for some specific content. Would you mind sharing which Insight channels you like in particular? Maybe we can make the same or similar content available for you and others in mDigger.

Also, if there is any information/content from certain websites that you would like to see on your device, please let us know. Either here or within our "new channel requests" forum at http://forum.mdigger.com.

Thanks again for trying out the service and we appreciate any feedback, always!

Gina
(part of the mDigger Team)

[psyjohn]

mDigger now definitely gets my vote for the best offline news reader.

Following the suggestion here from Gina I posted my request for 7 new channels on the mDigger forum. I got a reply the same day, and all 7 channels were available the very next day! :D

Contrast that with Insight where my request months ago was met with the suggestion to create my own templates for whatever content I wanted. (I did try but could never figure it out.)

I am amazed that mDigger is offering this kind of service for free, but if & when there is a cost I will gladly pay it.