RSS Bandit - Desktop based RSS reader - You won’t ask for more!

From long time, I’ve been searching for a desktop based RSS reader and to some extent I was satisfied with FeedDemon however, the simplicity of Google Reader again drew me towards it, but the feel of a desktop based RSS reader is simply much more than an online based RSS reader. But, now it seems that my hunt of that RSS reader, which gives me the ease of Google Reader and that which has got decent options seems to be over! RSS Bandit impressed me to a great degree and here are some of its features which impressed me the most :

Let’s read the review of this software and here are the PROS of RSS Bandit

1. The Interface : The default interface of RSS Bandit is more like an e-mail client. It’s got 3 panes and on the left, it shows you the list of RSS feeds in the middle pane it shows you all the RSS feeds which are unread and on the right pane, it shows you the content of the feeds. However, you can hide the middle pane to have more space for content.

The good thing is that it lets you change the interface and you can set it according to your needs and you can make it look like Outlook Express and other options where you can place the middle pane, anywhere, where ever you like.

2. Mark as read as you scroll : This is one thing which I wanted in every desktop RSS reader. The items automatically gets marked as read, as I scroll through the list and that’s where I loved Google Reader. If you want an item to stay as unread, then simply mark it as unread and it will remain unread.

3. Integrated Web Search : RSS bandit allows you to search the web and shows you the search result from 4 search engines in different tabs. I do think that it’s nice to have a reader which allows you to browser the web as well. It uses the IE’s rendering engine so you shouldn’t have problem in browsing the web too.

4. Automatically download podcasts : It automatically downloads the podcasts, I mean its not on by default but if you go through the list of options you’ll find the option to download the podcasts automatically.

CONS of RSS Bandit :

1. No possibility of online account synchronization : Well, one problem with desktop based readers is that they are specific to computers and thus if you prefer mobility then this isn’t the software which you want.

2. Small bugs : There are small bugs and you’ll experience them while you’ll use the software, sometimes the mark as read as you scroll will stop working and sometimes, it won’t display the Unread items properly when you click on all Unread items link but if you click on the folder list then they display fine. Well, by doing a simple restart, things start working fine but still that’s not what you want with a software.

Software Version and Other Info :

Version : 1.5.0.14
License : Free (Open-source)
Homepage : RSS Bandit
OS Requirement : All windows versions

Bottom Line :

By this review of the RSS bandit (free desktop based RSS reading software) we can make out that this is a good software and needs a bit of improvement but all in all, it serves the purpose and I’ll suggest this software to each and everyone who wants to ensure that they want a desktop based RSS reader and wants the ease provided by Google Reader!