As its name suggests, ePodCast Creator has been specifically designed for users who want to make their own online audiocasts. The application allows you to create, edit and manage podcasts on the fly, with a set of tools that let you record and mix audio from a variety of sources.

We like the way the program embraces the spirit of podcasting by keeping things pretty straightforward. Unlike many audio-editing applications, the interface is clean of clutter and consists of clearly -labelled playback and record panels, along with two timelines displaying the waveforms for the cast’s voice and music. Thanks to the ‘Music Segments’ menu, you get instant access to the music clips you’ve imported, which can either be dragged and dropped onto the timeline, or accessed via hotkeys.

Mixing audio tracks often proves tricky for novice users, but ePodCast Creator keeps things as simple as possible, with just one slider allowing you to blend music with voice recordings, or even two music tracks. Unfortunately this doesn’t give you quite the same precision and control as some of the more advanced sound editing apps, but should suffice for the average podcast. For the more adventurous podcaster, the bundled ePodCast Editor provides a series of tools for chopping up tracks, adding effects and adjusting EQ levels. Again, these features aren’t as powerful as those you’ll find in the likes of Acid or Reason, but we found them a lot easier to master.

EPodCast Creator makes for a great one-stop-shop for your podcasting needs, and the developer has pulled off something of a masterstroke by allowing you to record, edit, create RSS feeds and eventually upload your creation to the web. The package is perfect for those starting out their career as an Internet DJ, though it’s possible that you’ll outgrow the program as you become more ambitious in your productions.

Download ePodcast Creator 2.0.49 in Softonic

With the FireANT Player, you can subscribe to any RSS 2.0 channel and automatically download fresh media content to watch and listen to. In this way, you don't need to keep checking your favourite channel - whether it be CNN or ESPN - to see whether there's anything you want to watch on as FireANT delivers it all to you in much the same way as Google Reader tracks your favourite blogs.

The other big draw of FireANT is that the media player is incredibly versatile - rivalling VLC Player in some respects - as it's able to play just about any format without the need for codecs including Quicktime, Windows Media, Flash, Real Media. FireANT can even sync downloaded files with portable media players such as iPod and Sony PSP.

In addition, FireANT player comes with an integrated Yahoo! Video Search function. When FireANT was originally released this was probably quite useful but now that Google is king, you probably won't find much use for it. You can also interact with video creators by sending comments to them based on their content although I'm sceptical as to whether this actually works properly.

A format free and fun way to keep track of your favourite programming, FireANT is maybe a bit dated now but better than having to keep checking channels for new content yourself.

Download FireANT Beta in Softonic

Feeddemon is easy to install and although it will ask you for a Newsgator account, you can still launch it even if you don’t have one. The program can import all of your previous subscriptions or it can suggest new feeds to you in all sorts of categories like business, sports or entertainment.

Once launched, the program automatically downloads the latest posts. Feeds are saved in different categories so that you know where to find them.
You can also use the search function to find a post containing a particular word. Thanks to the custom news watch, you can get Feeddemon to find news according to certain keywords.
This is extremely useful if you’re doing a research paper or investigating a particular topic.
The program window includes a browser window, so you won’t need to open up your internet browser to read your feeds.
Feeddemon also supports tabs, allowing you to keep a good deal of posts open for future reading. If you want to save posts, you can flag them, save them as favourites or create a newsbin to store similar articles.

Apart from letting you customize the age limit of new posts and the amount that appears daily, you can use the Clean Up Wizard to get rid of older or unread posts.
This is extremely useful as, with so much information being handled, it’s easy to clutter up your newsreader with irrelevant posts.
Feeddemon handles podcasts just like any other RSS feed, however, to play them, either you’ll have to open up the MP3 file in a browser window or download it and play it with the MP3 player of your choice.
It would have been more user-friendly if Feeddemon had included an embedded media player to play podcasts.
If you’re on the move, you can still check your feeds stored in Feeddemon online through your Newsgator account.
If you don’t have one, take a few seconds to sign up as it’ll also let you use other Newsgator tools like Feedstation.
Apart from this full range of features, the real update in version 2.
1 is that Feeddemon has finally integrated the social networking aspect. You can now configure your default blog publisher and send interesting posts to your blog or to delicious and Digg.

We enjoyed using Feeddemon and were excited by all the freedom it gave users in managing their RSS feeds. The profusion of options in the interface can confuse first time users and we’ve suffered occasional lags when updating feeds, yet that’s quite common with any RSS reader.
Feeddemon is a top choice external RSS reader which any news junkie will quickly get addicted to. If you’re not so hooked on feeds, it might be too much to handle though.

Download FeedDemon 4.1 in Softonic

RSSOwl is, however, a very decent alternative, which I'd consider using if it Google hadn't trumped the market. RSSOwl is all about organization - managing your RSS feeds so that they're easy to read manage and access. Although Google Reader now offers offline reading via Google Apps, RSSOwl has long allowed its users to read feeds offline. In addition, it's a great solution for those that use both Macs and PCs because it works across both platforms.

The latest version of RSSOwl incorporates many important new features that enhance its functionality, such as a full screen mode, support for searches, an improved notifier, and multi-tabbed browsing. You can now add a password to your feeds, although this is hardly the most essential thing you need in an RSS reader. The overall look of RSSOwl is very basic but it keeps things simple in order to make feeds easy to find and navigate.

I still won't be changing to RSSOwl but as a lightweight cross platform solution, it's a very well developed RSS reader.

Download RSSOwl 2.1.6 in Softonic

FeedLiner deliver news headlines to your desktop in a constant stream. FeedLiner's info line can be switched on permanently or run in the so called "Hunting mode" which monitors the web until you change the presets to search for something else. It's an incredibly effective way to keep tabs on everything that's happening in the world of news, sport and entertainment without having to check RSS bookmarks or websites. If you want to know more about a headline running across FeedLiner, simply place the mouse cursor on it and you will see a brief summary. If you want to see the full text, just click on it and the original Web page will be automatically opened in Bizz Internet Cruiser which is FeedLiner's own internal tabbed browser. While it's not a bad browser, it would be much better if the tabs opened in the browser of your choice - such as IE or Firefox - but it's still readable.

If you always want to on top of the latest headlines and like to see all the news at once then Bizz Feedliner is a powerful product.

Download Bizz FeedLiner 4.11.013 in Softonic

Google Reader is a great web app and service for subscribing to RSS feeds. Desktop Google Reader hopes to make it easier to use with its desktop application but ultimately fails. Let's find out why.

The interface of Desktop Google Reader resembles a website from 1999. Its buttons and color scheme are random colors and it largely resembles an email application with feeds on the left, individual stories up top, and the actual article below. Desktop Google Reader also failed to import all of our RSS feeds from Google Reader.

There are some redeeming qualities. Desktop Google Reader has great sharing options with services like Instapaper, Pocket, and del.icio.us. Clicking on the full article within the app thankfully opens up the link within the application instead of opening up in a separate web browser.

Overall, Desktop Google Reader is a lackluster application that lacks many of the features of the Google Reader website.

Download Desktop Google Reader 1.4.4 in Softonic

Scoop is an AIR-based application that brings all your RSS feeds right onto your desktop. You can add up to a dozen feeds or simply synchronize it with your Google Reader account, although the latter takes such a long time that you'll probably end up adding the feeds manually – they show up immediately that way!

You can set up Scoop to look for updates according to a certain period of time and make it warn you with a small notification on your desktop, so you never miss any important headlines. However you can't minimize Scoop to the system tray, something I though would make perfect sense for a program like this.

When you open the feed, Scoop's small interface turns into a big double-pane window that lets you browse the feed list on the left side while reading the selected article on the right. Scoop also lets you star important items and add tags to them.

Scoop is a nice, lightweight RSS feed reader that makes sure you're always up to date with the latest headlines. Too bad it's terribly slow when importing a Google Reader account.

Download Scoop 0.33 in Softonic

ShareFire is a nicely designed reader for your RSS feeds that's based on Adobe AIR. It features a clean interface that makes it a breeze to use, as well as powerful features such as the possibility to import and export feeds, share specific items in all the main social networks and create the so-called 'Smart topics', which filter items according to the keywords you specify.

The sharing feature is probably the most outstanding one in ShareFire: each item in your RSS feeds will display icons to quickly post it to Facebook, Delicious, MySpace, Digg, Twitter and more. You can also share them by email or AIM. Pity it doesn't support more IM clients!

ShareFire lets you organize feeds by folders, and can also display them by author or topic. The program includes a search tool and refreshes feeds according to a specific time interval.

ShareFire is a clean, sleek RSS feed reader that lets you easily share posts on many social networks.

Download ShareFire 1.5 in Softonic

Let's face it. Sometimes you just can't be bothered to open up your browser, log into your Google account, and pull up Google Reader to sort through your RSS feeds. Good thing WebReader is around to simplify the process for you.

WebReader is a easy to use application that lets you read your RSS feeds directly from your desktop. All you need to do is have a Google account and some feeds already set up in Google Reader, and you'll be good to go. WebReader is easy to use and lightweight, since it requires Adobe Air to run. Once installed and launched, you'll be prompted to enter your Google information and give WebReader permission to pull your Google Reader feeds.

It works like a charm from there on out. WebReader has two columns. The left column lists your various RSS feed folders and can be expanded and minimized with a few simple clicks. The right column holds the actual content from each feed. You can opt to make the text larger, as well as change the way your feeds are viewed to read content either as full posts, summaries or just titles.

You can also share content read via WebReader on Facebook or Twitter, plus star favorite articles.

WebReader is a really sleek desktop client that makes reading Google Reader RSS feeds completely enjoyable.

Download WebReader 0.8.80 in Softonic

The program gets a thumbs-up for its friendly wizard which guides new users through creating their own feeds. The interface is sleek and different skins can be added to change its appearance.

The editing tools, like the WYSIWYG editor, are straightforward, allowing you to repair, copy, export or even clone feeds. Surfing on current trends, FeedForAll also allows you to create feeds for your podcasts.

FeedForAll would have been a complete RSS syndication tool, if it also worked as an RSS reader. We recommend it for anybody looking to quickly create and publish RSS feeds.

Download FeedForAll 2.0.2.9 in Softonic

Lots of websites have RSS feed options nowadays, allowing you to get updates from them typically in a reader program. Instead, Snackr runs a translucent ticker along the bottom, top or sides of your desktop. If you see a headline that interests you, click it and the ticker will stop as a window pops up with the article to read. Clicking this pop-up lets you read the story on its original web page.

Adding feeds is done by pasting in the feed link, or importing a feed list from your hard-drive, if you have one. Snackr then randomly pulls headlines from your chosen feeds, scrolling them across your screen. It can be minimized easily, if it becomes distracting, and the speed can be altered as you like.

Snackr is an ideal way to keep up with news while at your computer, it's easy to install, adding and removing feeds is a breeze and it looks cool. It would be improved if you could control the translucency and color of the ticker, but at least black is fairly neutral. Currently it doesn't let you sync with your Google Reader account, which would really speed up set up of Snackr although I prefer to use it for more traditional news rather than the professional-related feeds I use in my reader.

Snackr is a slick, functional ticker, perfect for anyone who wants to feel like a stockbroker or newsreader!

Download Snackr 0.41 in Softonic