FeedMon

This barebones feed reader fails to meet even minimum expectations for programs in this genre. FeedMon's five-button and feed-tree listing interface quickly proved disappointing. There are no options to sort feeds, add categories, or edit feed names. Users are stuck with a single list in alphabetical order by feed name. The Help file is just a paragraph restating that the program supports RSS, Atom, and RDF feeds. Our tests found it isn't quite that robust.

Adding feeds to this reader is a simple button click to enter the feed URL. However, FeedMon failed to recognize many compliant feeds. When the program could display a feed, it was impossible to change fonts, text size, or any other aspect of the layout. An option to force opening in your default browser didn't work during testing. Double clicking a post opened the article in either FeedMon, Internet Explorer, or the default browser--often without rhyme or reason. Editing a feed is simply a method to change the URL. There is no way to give each feed a different update schedule, archive period, or display order.

With problems reading, displaying, and storing feeds, FeedMon simply falls far below the standards set by other freeware feed readers. We suggest you continue your search.