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Let’s start by saying that Google Reader is a great RSS Reader - it’s easy-to-use and works well. Even better, if you install Google Gears you can actually read all of your feeds offline. In short, with Google Reader you get the best of both worlds — a great online RSS reader with off line capabilities.

Let’s take a closer look at Google Reader. First we’ll take a look at Tech-Bite’s video introduction to Google Reader:

An Introduction to Google Reader

Looks pretty good, right? Then why not start using Google Reader? And while it’s fairly easy to start using Google Reader, just in case you need some help we’ll let Liz B. Davis show you how to get started with Google Reader:

Getting Started with Google RSS Reader

Okay - now that you have a basic understanding of how to use Google Reader and you’ve set up your account, let’s learn how to get the most out of Google Reader. To start with, we’ll look at another video from Liz Davis on how to manage your RSS feeds in Google Reader:

How to Manage Your RSS Feeds in Google Reader

Next, we’ll watch a musical demonstration of how to use some of Google Reader’s keyboard shortcuts by Lifehacker:

Using Keyboard Shortcuts in Google Reader

Was that a bit too quick for you? No problem, Google provides a full list of keyboard shortcuts on its website.

And finally, as we mentioned above you can also download all of your feeds to your computer - you can then read your feeds pretty much anywhere, as this musical video by Google demonstrates:

Google Reader on the Go with Google Gears

And Google Gears is incredibly easy to use as this boring (but helpful) video shows:

Using Google Gears with Google Reader

So there you have it - Google Reader in a nutshell. All you need to do now is sign-up and start using it.

The easiest, quickest and by far the most entertaining way to learn about RSS is to watch this short 3 minute video by Lee LeFever from Common Craft. It’s called RSS in Plain English and trust me - you’ll be glad you watched it (even if you already know what RSS is):

RSS in Plain English

Next, just to make sure that you’ve got the concept of RSS feeds covered, I’d check out this well done video by Richard Ziade of Sketch.Basement.org. In this video Richard clearly describe what RSS is and also shows us how to use it vis-a-vis Internet Explorer 7.0. Richard makes neat little videos by drawing them onto his PC Tablet computer — check it out and see what I mean:

RSS for the Masses

You can learn more about Internet Explorer 7.0 by clicking here or you can simply get it now.

There are other means of collecting and accessing your RSS feeds besides Internet Explorer 7.0 as this (semi) funny little video by SunProjector shows you:

RSS Unleashed

Or, if you are the more musical type, you may enjoy this very short video (this guy seems to get very passionate about signing up to a new feed):

Firefox 2 RSS Demo

Note: With both the Firefox Browser you can easily subscribe to RSS feeds vis-a-vis your favorite feed reader (online or off) in addition to subscribing within Firefox itself:

Pretty neat, eh? So what are you waiting for? .

Now, for those of you who prefer the written word over the moving screen, this abridged (and slightly updated) tutorial by Brain Clark of Copyblogger fame is just what you are looking for:

What the Heck is RSS?

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

What the heck is a feed reader?

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.

For more info on getting started with Bloglines, read Bloglines (and aggregators in general) from Carson McComas of WorkHappy.net.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. Internet Explorer 7.0 has a similar feature.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not.

Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a Feed?

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Search Marketing Courses and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon:

Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. Some of the more popular RSS Feed readers are:

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription box.

Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.

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Note: Microsoft recently introduced Windows Live Mail, a program similar to Outlook Express, which allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds.