What Is RSS And Why Should You Care?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.
That's not important. Here's what is:
RSS lets you get news from the web, but only the news that you really care about.
Your Personal Newspaper
Think of it like this: RSS lets you build the perfect newspaper.
Rather than a bunch of news that you could care less about, you create a newspaper that only reports on your interests.
- Don't care about sports? Don't include it.
- Don't want local news? Don't include it.
- Don't care a whit about stock prices? Don't include it.
OK, you're starting to get a feel for this.
You can put together your own paper and make sure that all the headlines are news items that you actually want to read.
Those news items can be as specific as you want them to be, about any topic that is important to you.
Each news topic that you subscribe to is called an RSS feed.
- Enjoy golf? Get an RSS feed for that.
- Want to learn about Australia? Get a feed for that.
- Really like Pomeranians? Betcha there's a feed for that too.
Complete Privacy
When you subscribe to an RSS feed, you don't provide anyone with your e-mail address.
It's completely anonymous.
You can be subscribed to hundreds of feeds and never have to worry about your address getting sold on the e-mail black market.
That's kind of a relief isn't it?
RSS feeds are a great alternative to traditional e-mail newsletters.
How Do I Subscribe?
As you surf the web, you'll sometimes see little images like this: 
This is a symbol for an RSS feed.
Suscribing to the feed will provide you with news updates from the site.
You've found the news item itself. But how do you read it?
Before you can subscribe to an RSS feed, you need an RSS reader. This is the newspaper that will put together all of your RSS feeds into something legible.
It's not surprising then that most RSS readers are also called newsreaders. Some are called aggregators, but they're the exact same thing.
They are tools that help you collect your favorite RSS feeds in one spot.
How Do I Get A Newsreader?
It's simple, even for the computer-phobic.
Just visit a web site that offers a newsreader and follow their instructions to create an account.
Pretty straightforward.
Now, I wouldn't tell you all of this and not provide you with some easy links to newsreaders. Here they are:
These readers require no software installation. All you need is an Internet connection.
Instant News
Here's the most important aspect of getting your news through RSS: there's no delay.
With the newspaper, you only get news once a day. If a story breaks right before a paper goes to print, that news won't show up.
Not so with RSS feeds.
With an RSS feed, the minute news is posted, it shows up in your newsreader.
It's a great way to stay up-to-date with a web site. Like this one for example.
As I add new pages and more information to the site, you'll see it in your newsreader. You don't have to come back to the site every single day in an attempt to find out what I have changed.
You can pay attention, or choose to ignore it. Either way, you won't miss out on something important just because you're not visiting the site all the time.
Subscribe to the Digital SLR Guide
It's easy to subscribe to the Digital SLR Guide RSS feed once you have a newsreader.
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