Solo Technology

A few weeks back I wrote a bit about Mobile RSS and had a few paragraphs about FeederReader. As a result, I received an invite from the author to trial the newest alpha version. How could I say no? I responded that I’d love to give it a go and he granted me access to the necessary areas of his Forums.

I’ve played with the beta version a bit now. The interface appears to be exactly the same, and I still start each trial being confused about the icons (more below), but I’m glad to say that it sure seems to just plain work better now. I fed it my podnova feed and within seconds was cheerfully pulling down enclosures — it even appears to have defaulted the downloads to my Storage Card. I don’t recall it being like that in the previous version.

A note on the interface: At first, glance, it looks pretty straightforward, but that row of icons on the Enclosure button bar really gave me grief; I had the hardest time figuring those all out. Fortunately, there’s a little “Enclosure Support” section on his page that has been a life saver. I think I can safely, and unoffensively say that the author is not a UI Traditionalist and at first that was driving me nuts. But, with just a little bit of usage, it really starts to make more sense and I’m getting comfortable with the way things work. The options sections are truly daunting and I need to try and find more documentation on what some of it even means..

To play a podcast, I just tap the play arrow and GSPlayer starts up for me. As far as I can tell, there’s not a built in player. One thing I need to figure out is how/when cleanup happens. Need to make sure I don’t have these mp3’s laying around forever! The help area on the site doesn’t quite match this current version, so I’ll have to hit the forums to learn more there I think.

I do believe I may have finally found my mobile podcast catching and playing solution with this latest version. And, as mentioned last time I looked at it, if I need to go completely mobile for a bit with my RSS subscriptions, this certainly works well for non-podcast feeds as well.

One Response to “Revisiting FeederReader - Mobile RSS”

1. Greg Smith on February 16th, 2006 5:49 am
   

   I’m glad you like the latest version!

   “the author is not a UI traditionalist” I believe is the kindest way of putting that sentiment ;-). I’m fully aware of the seeming complexity and agree that it takes a week or two to really learn the ins and outs both because of the flexibility of FeederReader and because my icon skills need a serious tuneup. This is one reason I have published the manual (30+ pages) so that the initiated can read as much as they want on how FeederReader works. And this is also a big reason that I am developing the ability to Skin FeederReader. I’m working with a skin developer to make FeederReader look its best. When the development guide is published, anyone will have the ability to change any icons, colors, and presentation. Stay tuned in the FeederReader Forums for an announcement in the first half of this year.

   The Enclosure Toolbar section of the manual is completely up to date. You’re right that the manual is slightly outdated, but the only thing I have done is add new features. The old features should work as intended (and documented).

   You’re also right that the FeederReader Forums is the best place to get the latest information on FeederReader or to ask any questions you want. I’m there all the time helping anyone who asks.

   Greg Smith
   Author, FeederReader - Pocket PC *direct* RSS text, audio, video, podcasts
   http://www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

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