Learning RSS (Real Simple Syndication)

Yesterday, I set up my first blog--simple enough.

Now I am trying to figure out RSS, which most commonly means "Real Simple Syndication."

So far, there hasn't been anything simple about it.

As I understand it, at this moment, it is not available, at least in no simple way, on AOL, and, as I am using Windows XP, no "newsreader," (or aggregator) came with my operating system.

Therefore, I first had to find a newsreader in order to subscribe to other's blogs.

As a result, I first spent about a half hour yesterday downloading my "free" download from FeedDemon, only to find out my "free" download was only a 20-day trial. Didn't install it.

Second, I signed up for "MyYahoo" which provides a newsreader. Went through all the sign up crap, (gave them my blood type, and sent off a sample of my DNA) went to a site where I knew they had a "MyYahoo" button, and "subscribed" to that blog.

Went back to MyYahoo and found my subscription to that blog listed. Great!

This morning, I went back to MyYahoo, but couldn't get in. (Maybe there is something wrong with my DNA.) It kept telling me that I didn't know what my password was.

So I clicked on the little "Forgot your password?" sign. Instead of emailing me my password, I had to get a new one--a machine generated password. I could use that to get into my account and then change my password back to what it was before.

However, they wouldn't accept the machine generated password either. So, at this moment, I am locked out.

They said that if that didn't work, (evidently this happens a lot) to come back later. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't.

At any rate, my challenge for today is to figure out how I get those little signs on this blog so the billions of people who are currently reading this can claw their way to a subscription.

I noticed on the site I subscribed to, there were about a half dozen or so buttons--MyYahoo, MyMSN, etc. I wonder if I need a separate button for every newsreader out there, or if there is a universal button that lets the user send the subscription to the reader of his or her choice?

Should be able to figure that out before the next millennium.

Second, I noticed blogger.com here offered me a choice between Atom and RSS. Reading the material about Atom and RSS only muddied the waters. If I choose Atom, will people with RSS readers be able to subscribe?

Got to find that out today, somehow.

They say that RSS is a big boon to online businesses because it eliminates many of the problems associated with communicating via email.

But honestly, until they make it much simpler, and until AOL picks it up and makes it blatantly apparent they offer it, I don't see how it is going to have a huge impact on the market for quite a while.

But then, I'm usually wrong.