BitsCast

This RSS newsreader aggregator arrives preloaded with a variety of feeds, including podcasts, making it attractive to nearly all newsreader users.

BitsCast has a familiar, functional interface--similar to e-mail clients like Outlook or Thunderbird--that will prove reassuring to novice users who may be intimidated by the cluttered appearance of some other newsreaders. The row of icon-labeled buttons along the top of the BitsCast interface include pop-up helpers that easily guide a user through adding feeds, archiving feeds, exporting playlists to your system's default player, and so on.

The preloaded feeds come from a plethora of sources. News sources include BBC, CNET, CNN, InfoWorld, New York Times, and Washington Post. Podcast sources are ABC News, CBS News, CNN Marketplace, Rocketboom, The Wizards of Technology, and a number of YouTube topics. BitsCast also features a BitTorrent downloader.

In our tests, the program performed quickly and reliably, except in one case in which BitsCast crashed while we were adding a podcast feed. Afterward, the app responded with no problems, and we found that BitsCast had indeed saved the feed in question. Users at any level of expertise should find this free newsreader reliable and simple to employ.