How To Access Password Protected RSS Feed From Popular Online Feed Aggregators

Online feed readers are the latest evolutions in the world of information and news sources. It is developing by leaps and bounds and that day isn’t far off when online feed readers will be as essential as your newspaper or careergraphs. Keeping that in mind, online feed aggreators are implementing new characteristics on this wonderful service and password protection is just one step close to the security that you need from them.

It is quite easy to read feeds from Desktop aggregators like say RSS Bandit etc. But what if one wants to access web-based feed agreegator. I tested the most popular ones and here is how they are to be used.

BlogLines

I checked into Bloglines and found it to be a URL-based authenticator protocol.

So basically what you will have to do is,

• You subscribe to the feed in Bloglines
• pass the username and password in the URL in this form:

https://username:password@URL

Note -> By now you have understood that this is perhaps the weakest form of security. Anyone who intercepts into the connection, can know the details of your account. So I suggest you to set access to the feed to private (on the second page of the subscription process) to prevent the feed and thus your password from showing up in your public Blogroll.

Google Feed Reader

Google has been a frustrating provider in this regard. Google Feed Reader does not support the password authenticated feed reading and thereby any private feed is not watchable from their software.

Feedshow

I also tried Feedshow with a demo account and it was the same as Blogline.

Let me put some screenshots here to show you the actual process.

1. Go to Feedshow, enter with your account and you will see,

2. Now if you are into that blog with your account, then you will need to subscribe to the blog you want to read. the screenshot may look like this.

So I guess by now you know how to access password protected feeds through feed aggregators. The obvious doubt that can arise in your mind is, how secure are they so that you can share your valuable account information with them. Well, I am not going to leave you without any information on that. See HERE. Aren’t you pleased?

With all said and done, why wait? Start using them from now. Keep feed-ing.