Are RSS-To-Email Services Worth It?

While on the lookout for RSS-based services and software, I came across Squeet.com. Squeet.com is a free RSS-to-email web-based service that converts a feed into one or more emails.

You can also specify a one-time delivery (single email), or a recurring frequency, as headline items become available. If you're new to RSS and don't reall know what it's all about, you can click on one of the 16 "Popular Feeds" buttons, which automatically enters the corresponding feed URL into the form for you. All you have to do is enter your email, optional delivery info (frequency, type of email), and a verification code. Now press the button and you'll have one or more emails delivered to you to containing text or html segments.

Now while it's nice to have a service like this as a stepping-stone for learning about RSS, it and similar services essentially give the wrong impression about RSS if not handled properly.

Specifically, what I'm talking about is that in a regular RSS reader, you can consume headline items one at a time. When you're done with an item, you can choose to delete it or not. Items are automatically organized into a folder for the feed.

But when feeds are converted into a single email, you cannot sequentially move through each headline item without switching between your email client and your web browser. Or in the case of a browser-based client, between two browser windows or tabs.

Alternately, if the feed is converted in one email per headline item, it's not always possible to have the resulting set of emails contiguous. That means that while running through all the feed emails, you may encounter unrelated emails.

In general, it's hard to get around the limitations of trying to view RSS headline items as email, whether as a single email or several. Fortunately, Squeet does allow you to choose how you want your emails delivered. Although I did not sign up for an permanent account to allow continuous delivery of emails, I presume that they have a way to unsubscribe to feeds. And hopefully it's as easy as it would be in an RSS reader.

Links: Squeet.

Technorati Tags: rsscases, rss cases, rss-to-email

Hi, Raj. I just found your article while checking out some Technorati tags for a Squeetblog article I'm working on. First, thanks for taking a look at Squeet and offering your assessment. Here are my comments:

Squeet is being designed to offer the best of Email with best of RSS, while hopefully eliminating the worst of both. I use Squeet to keep up with 50+ feeds, and I can't imagine switching back to a traditional reader. Here are a few reasons:

- I'm already running my email application all day long, and it's stable;

- Email filters allow me to organize my feeds easily into their own folders, like an RSS reader would, and my email filters are far more powerful than anything I've seen in an RSS reader (so I can flag, forward, delete, etc. on the fly as artiles come in);

- I can easily find articles, because desktop search apps like Google Desktop index emails;

- I don't have to run a separate application, using more system resources;

- I don't have to use my bandwidth (and publishers') to constantly check for feeds -- instead, Squeet checks for all of its users and sends out updates as they are available;

- Sometimes I use a mobile device to check my email...and therefore have access to my RSS feeds on the go.

To address some of the things you mentioned:

- Squeet does not convert all of a user's feeds into one email. If a user wishes to receive a daily digest, it is selected at the feed level, meaning you would get one email per feed. A user can also elect to receive some feeds daily, others weekly, and others live as they come in.

- You can read feed articles sequentially. By creating a simple email filter, you can automatically place all of a feed's articles into its own folder. Most email apps tell you how many unread emails are in a folder...so when you see there are new messages you can go into that folder to read them in order, without reading other emails in between. There is no need to switch between email and browser, as Squeet supports full content feeds.

- Through the feed management console, you can unsubscribe, pause a feed, edit its delivery settings, etc.

It should also be mentioned that Squeet does not share users' email addresses with publishers, and full OPML import/export is supported.

Thanks again for taking a look!

Sincerely,

Angelo

Posted by: Angelo at April 4, 2006 9:42 PM