15-Minute Reviews :: Easy RSS2Email v1.1

Hello all, and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Easy RSS2Email version 1.1 by ExtraLabs Software – An application to take an RSS feed and email it to others.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“Easy RSS2Email is a program that is used to automatically create and send e-mail messages whose contents are retrieved from news feeds. Besides the popular RSS format, the program also supports the Atom and RDF formats. It is possible to send message both in HTML and in plain text.”

Easy RSS2Email has a built-in word automatic replacement dictionary, allows you to mix up news feeds, filter feed topics by keywords. You can easily import and export e-mail addresses – the program supports all popular formats of text databases. It is possible to work using the command line. The program has a convenient interface and is really easy to use.”

Quick Pros

• Custom template file for giving the feed a unique look and ad insertion
• Easy to get multiple feeds set up
• Preview function handy to see what you’re emailling.

Quick Cons

• Awkward adding more templates
• Can’t see templates well on small 4-up layout
• Never completes sending process – No emails go out (Tested on three SMTP servers)
• Effective use of dictionary feature questionable
• No automatic feed position (IE:- no way to make sure previous feed items aren’t emailed.)

Expansion

With the ability to send RSS feeds as email, there is a lot more people you can reach with your message, whatever it may be. This application has a lot of interesting aspects. Customizable template files to give your email a unique feel is a handy ability (Even though it is awkward adding more than the default 4 templates;) As is the ability to preview what you are sending. It’s very easy to get multiple feeds set up and running as well. The interface is generally fairly easy to use as well, which Is a plus as well.

I do have a good number of concerns however. My primary issue is that I couldn’t get it to email in the first place. Using the BladedThoth.com feed, it would read the feed just fine (Show up in preview,) and make it all the way to sending, and just sits there. I tried three different SMTP servers I use on a daily basis (Two require authentication, one does not,) and nothing. No email ends up outbound, after 5 minutes I just ended up cancelling it. With that, even when I click ‘Stop’, it still sits on ‘Sending’ in the status bar, requiring me to close and reopen the application. I only used two email destinations, and through all my testing, nothing hit either mailboxes.

Another concern is without the ability of the application to track which feeds it has emailed, it defeats the purpose of using the application to attempt to reach a larger subscription base by using it to blast feeds, unless you want to deal with having each time to go in and change the quantity of items from the feed; However, this does not specifically appear to be the purpose of this application. With the dictionary ‘replacement’ functionality as well as holding multiple feeds, with the lack of ‘resuming’ a feed, as well as ‘importing’ email lists; I feel like this application is aimed towards those who may want to send out ‘news’ emails with a side of advertisement in it instead of bloggers who may be looking to redistribute their blog in another format.

Final Verdict

With the functionality of this application, I would steer most bloggers from it; If you need email functionality for your blog, use FeedBurner – Not only can you use it to email your feeds, but it can reduce the strain on your server and help you market your site further. For the others who may still be interested in this application, I would likely steer you clear of this application until at least the outbound email issue can become more stable. It may work for you, but with the fact that 3 out of 3 server settings wouldn’t work for me, there is a good chance that trend may continue.

Posted by BladedThoth on Tuesday, May 29, 2007