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Using Automatic Discovery
To access an RSS feed, you need a software program known as a news aggregator or RSS reader. If you already have a news aggregator and it supports auto-discovery, you can usually add an RSS link for a given site by using your aggregator to surf the home page of that Web site.

Adding An RSS Link Manually
When auto-discovery doesn't work, the manual process is easy enough:

1. Copy the RSS feed link from the content site. For many people, this is the most confusing step. If you see an XML icon like this , and you're using Internet Explorer in Windows, you can right-click this button and choose Copy Shortcut to copy the RSS link. Another option is to left click the link and copy the URL from your browser's Address bar. You'll often see unintellgible code in your browser window when you just click an RSS link. This is the XML stream, which is not intended to be interpreted by most browsers. (New plug-ins available for some Web browsers will make this possible, however.)

2. Open your news aggregation tool, initiate a new channel, and paste the RSS link into the URL field. After a few seconds, the feed will populate in your RSS reader. The process of initiating a new channel goes by different names in different news aggregators. It might also be called "adding a new feed." If necessary, consult your news aggregator's Help or documentation for more information.

Where To Get A News Aggregator (or RSS Reader)
News aggregators are available in several varieties. They can be Web-based services, standalone client software, or plug-ins for existing Web browsers or email packages.

Some of our editors are using FeedDemon by Bradbury Software. It was written by Nick Bradbury, author of HomeSite and TopStyle, two popular Web development tools. Here's a short list of RSS readers you might like to try:

• Snarfer - Utility for reading, searching, and managing RSS feeds - Excellent & Free
• FeedDemon - full-featured Windows news aggregator
• Yahoo! - Yahoo's offers an RSS reader
• SharpReader - simple, well designed, reads RSS and Atom
• NewsGator - plug-in for Outlook 2000 and newer
• NetNewsWire - well-thought-of Mac RSS reader.
• NewsMonster - Mozilla browser plug-in supports Linux, Windows
• Sage - Sage is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed reader extension for Mozilla Firefox.

What Exactly Is RSS?
Most sources define RSS as an acronym standing for Really Simple Syndication; other sources say the acronym derives from Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary. In fact, all may be correct.

Whatever the letters stand for, RSS is a light-weight XML format for distributing headlines, links, and brief descriptions of Web-based content. Web content providers develop and serve RSS "feeds," or streams of headline content designed to be accessed by news aggregator or RSS reader client software. An RSS reader lets you peruse headlines, read summaries, and the click links to specific stories to open them right on their original Web sites in your default Web browser.

• Introduction to RSS - WebReference.com
• What is RSS? - XML.com
• All About RSS - Fagan Finder
• RSS & Atom Tips - Lockergnome
• What Is Atom? - Google's Blogger Help
• RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers and Webmasters - mnot
• RSS 2.0 Specification - Technology at Harvard Law