Five Open Source Feed Readers to Keep You Organized

If you're like most Internet-connected people these days, the amount of information you take in from your favorite news sites, tech blogs, and the like is just staggering. The only way to stay on top of everything is with a solid feed reader to help aggregate everything you want to read. Of course, many folks rely on Google Reader to get the job done but if you're looking for an open source option, here are five of our favorites.

RSS Bandit - This full-featured reader sports multi-language and newsgroup support as well as customizable viewing styles and RSS item search. It sync feeds with Google Reader and NewsGator Online in case you read your news from different computers or mobile devices.

RSS Owl - Here's another popular feed reader that's highly tweakable and easy to use. It supports multiple tabs and uses an embedded browser to show the full content of the news stories you're viewing. RSS Owl is a cross-platform app that supports seaved searches, labels, and filters.

Blog Bridge - This app was designed to mainly manage a burgeoning list of blog feeds, but can handle any traditional RSS feed. There's no limit on how many feeds Blog Bridge can aggregate, so go wild. If you're on the prowl for new blogs to read, this is the app for you -- one of its main features is auto-suggestion based on the you already subscribe to.

Akregator - Designed for the KDE desktop environment, Akregator lets users follow their favorite RSS/Atom-enabled Web sites without the need to manually check for updates. If you use Konqueror, you'll love how well Akregator integrates with it to add news feeds right into the app.

Straw- Created for the GNOME desktop environment, Straw pulls in feeds from all your favorites blogs, news sites, and podcasts. They're accessible from your desktop, no online access needed.