Willow Tree

I use Safari's built in feed reader. I have a whole folder full of bookmarked mu.nu feeds. I can tell looking at the bookmarks bar how many posts there are, and when I pull down the menu I can see how many posts there at each individual blog.

The big advantage is that I don't spend time loading a site that doesn't have new content.

Also the feed page loads much faster and I can scan the headlines to see if there is a post I want to read, or just move on.

I use NetNewsWire on my Mac. I haven't settled on an RSS reader for my PCs. As with Stephen, (also a fellow Mac user, I see) a feed reader allows me to know what sites are updated without visiting and read a summary or the full content of the entry. If the entry is of no interest, I can easily move on to the next updated feed. With the number of sites I watch, I couldn't do without a feed reader.

I prefer to have my feed reader separate from my browser. I use different browsers, but I don't like using a sidebar. I hear that good integrated feed readers are available for almost any browser, though.

I provide a summary RSS feed without links or graphics for faster loading and to encourage my readers to visit my site for the 'full' version. As a consequence, I've tried to make my headlines and first 40 words more relevant. I can also track the number of readers I have via RSS readers, giving me better feel for the 'true' number of readers I have.

And if nothing else, it's another toy for me to play with. :-)

I like bloglines, which I can also use to build my blogroll. The only negative is that if Bloglines is down, there's no blogroll on my blog. But that doesn't happen very often.

Thanks everyone; I have a pc, I wish it was a mac, since I"ve always felt they were a better buy but...
anyway, I've tried bloglines and I guess sI couldn't get the hang of it...I downloaded pluck, not sure if I like that and rojo...which seems okay....

David, how do you use bloglines to build your blogroll?

Bloglines has code that you can cut and paste into your template. The addition of a blog requires a few clicks and then it's displayed in your blog without you ever touching the template.
Read http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs (go to the "share" tab.) I believe that will explain it.

The code looks like:

David

Glad you asked the question cause I have no idea about RSS feeds either. But if it's only to save me time from an un-updated blog, eh, not worth my checking it out. I don't mind that.