Snarfer Presents Custom RSS Reader

I'm always intrigued by the uses of customized software, such as the custom versions that Particls released back in June, so when we received news that Snarfer was creating their own customized RSS readers, I was raring to check it out.

The new custom Snarfer RSS reader still has all the same features that created converts out of some of our authors a long time ago: it's still browser-independent, still does complex searches, and still synchronizes with Bloglines. The new feature, however, allows you to create a custom version of the RSS reader for your own readers (or clients, or family) that prominently displays your chosen content in a fixed tab.

Snarfware even volunteers to host this custom version for you, offering it free of charge. The catch here is that the custom Snarfer reader has an ad box in the lower left hand corner that will be visible to anyone using your custom version.

Here's where things get a bit sticky. Prior to my Mac conversion, I was a die-hard fan of Particls. I appreciated that when they launched their custom versions, it was part of a revenue share plan, leveraging your content with their app. Snarfer is also offering a service, but at the same time, the ad revenue is all theirs, with no partner involvement. Like Particls, the custom Snarfer reader is also Windows-specific, further limiting the audience for the custom version.

I definitely think that Snarfware is onto something here, and that customized apps that allow companies to have some amount of control over their users'/readers'/customers' experiences online will gain a lot more attention in the future. I guess I'd like to have these apps open to less platform-specific audience as well as provide a more concrete way of making it a profitable venture for both app creator and content providers.