However good as NewsGator Online is, after a while I began wishing FeedDemon synchronized with Google Reader instead. I much preferred having a desktop application then a web-based, but I would prefer still more to have access to both.

NewsGator Online is adequate as a web RSS reader, but nothing more, I find it slow and un-intuitive. In contrast using Google Reader offline through Gears just can’t be compared to a dedicated desktop application like FeedDemon.

However just this week I was excited to see the first Alpha version of RSS Bandit released. RSS Bandit is a desktop feed reader written with the .NET framework and which synchronises with either NewsGator Online or Google Reader!

I have only just downloaded it and begun using, so I’ll provide a better update later on how I find it, but so far I’m loving it.

The first thing you’ll notice is it looks very much like Outlook which provides for an attractive, clean and familiar interface, but it would be nice to have the option to change it a bit, even just the colour scheme.

Yes, there are quite a few little bugs, but I haven’t noticed anything major so far. It’s very fast, in fact a lot faster then FeedDemon, although I will have to wait and see if it slows down as it gets more feeds to handle.

As I said, I’m liking what I’m seeing, but haven’t had a proper opportunity to try it yet, so when I have I will let you know wether not it really is a better solution the FeedDemon and if I’m converted.