If you’ve been keeping an eye out in the newsreader market, you’ve probably noticed an interesting trend — some have endured a great price drop: down to free! And these are quality apps, which made some question whether your patronage is more important than ever for these developers. Anyway, the Mac has some great newsreaders that happen to be (or recently have gone) free.
NewsFire. The latest app to go the way of freeware, NewsFire is one of the most beautiful newsreaders you’ll ever use. This fully functional app can now be used by anyone can use it without restrictions. Well, almost… as some users are reporting that the app’s author has locked in his blog’s feed within NewsFire. Others have reported that they don’t have that problem (including yours truly) since in this case the app was registered before the update to freeware.
NetNewsWire. The newsreader that some say prompted NewsFire’s transition to freeware, the insanely popular NetNewsWire also went free not that long ago. NetNewsWire is a very powerful news reader with an intuitive interface, that makes it a favorite amongst the Mac community. In fact, the app is claimed on its website as the most popular Mac reader.
Shrook. While some may overlook this one in favor of the bigger newsreaders (ah, publicity!), Shrook is an extremely advanced reader with a unique feature or two — and still free. While the interface may not be as appealing as other readers, it has the outstanding feature of synchronization available through its shrook.com website, thus not limiting your data for use on a single Mac.
Vienna. A great newsreader that’s been free as long as I remember, Vienna established a huge fanbase because of its free status. But of course, its users claim that its greatness actually comes from the app’s functionality. And yes, it does have great features to back it up — I especially loved the tabbed browsing interface.
Google Reader. It’s no surprise that Google created the most successful newsreader in the planet — it’s free, accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, and is not dependent on a specific computing platform. All you need is a capable web browser, and you’re set to enjoy the great experience of accessing your news feeds from different computers — never losing synchronization.
Reader Notifier. If you love Google Reader, but still would like some integration with your Mac’s desktop, you don’t have to look further than Reader Notifier. It is a fantastic piece of software as it allows for easy notification of new items in your feeds, as well as instant subscription to new ones. Even if you’re using Google Reader because of its capability as a web app, it doesn’t hurt to have in your main computer.
Safari and Mail. Of course, you can always stick with Apple’s own news reading solutions.
It is worthwhile to notice that while these apps are free, but some developers appreciate donations if you like their software. That being the case, a donation link is usually found in their websites. But now that you’ve seen some of the news readers available, which is the one you’re currently using?
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