RSS Noob Please help!

Hello all I have been way to confused on RSS feeds. I have read feedly is an awesome app to use for android which is what I use. I know what RSS does it makes it so all the content is in one place. My question is I click on the orange RSS feed and a bunch of code just appears how the heck do I add this to Feedly. Also can I use this for podcasts I am just so confused on the simplest thing and everywhere I look they either say "click on RSS" or explain how to setup your own RSS. A step by step guide would be the best if anyone can help.

If you know what you want to add to your Feedly list, you can just open up feedly and search for it. For example I just searched 'bombcast' in Feedly and added the Bombcast feed.

The orange rss buttons you see on most sites will return an xml file and your browser needs to have a plugin or a built in ability to parse that code and display it in a user friendly manner. If not then you'll see the raw xml code.

@newhaap: how does that work with premium content though?

The premium podcasts have their own rss feed, you can also type in a site's url in Feedly's search and it'll grab all the rss feeds on that site (although I'm not sure if it finds everything). You can find the premium podcast list in feedly that way.

I don't know how it works with GB accounts, it seems like I can listen to them fine without being logged in on any of my browsers... @rorie is this something you guys need to worry about?

Yes, for a lot of sites, you can do what @newhaap said, and just search for them directly on Feedly.

If there's a site you can't find through Feedly (or if a site hosts multiple RSS feeds, and you can't get to the right one through Feedly's search), here's what you do. Go to the site and click on that RSS button/link. If it brings you to an xml file / page of code, copy the URL from your browser's address bar. For example, one of Giant Bomb's feeds is the Game Reviews feed. If you click on the link, it brings you to: http://www.giantbomb.com/feeds/reviews/

Go to Feedly, go to Add Content, and paste in that URL. It will open the feed. Make sure it's the one you were expecting. Then click the "+feedly" button to subscribe.

(Note that some browsers display RSS content differently. For example, if you're using Firefox (desktop), you won't see all the code; it will actually display the content in a readable format. But the same rules apply - just copy the URL and use it to Add Content on Feedly.)

@wraithtek: Thanks for the tip!

Also, I think you can ignore what I said regarding the premium podcasts above, I just realized the ones listed on Feedly are older content from 2013, none of the newer ones. So I'm actually not sure how RSS feeds work with premium content... Maybe there are no RSS feeds for premium content?

On the Giant Bomb RSS Feeds page, you should see links to the Premium Podcast feed and various Premium Video feeds. The page notes:

Our feeds should work in just about any news reader. The premium feeds are locked and will require you to use your login/pass to access them. Some readers / media apps can be finicky with protected feeds, but we know for sure they work well with iTunes.

@jamin724: Feedly is great for text RSS feeds like the news on the site but if you want to use RSS feeds for mediafiles like videos or audiofiles (bombcast) I recommend the app Dogcatcher. It's not free but its worth it in my opinion. There is a free version which is a 7 day trial. The main use is to download the podcasts or videos for consumption later.

It works great with passworded RSS feeds like the premium ones.

@forcen: Does dogcatcher do both news and media? also does it sync with android?

You can use it for articles but Doggcatcher is really built for podcasts (audio/video) so when it comes to articles the formatting can be quite off, the general UI of Doggcatcher isn't great for reading either. I do recommend it, I use it all the time for podcasts but just podcasts. For reading I sign my Feedly account into GReader. The Feedly app falls flat when it comes to offline reading, so if you commute or travel (the times I tend to read articles) you could be left hanging, it's nice to wake up in the morning and have all the news with or without a solid connection.

@jamin724: Use feedly for news, dogcatcher for media. Thats what I do.

Also not sure what you mean by sync, it can download stuff that you can listen to later. it doesnt use an account, you just have a list of feeds.

Maybe he means like how iTunes PC/Mac app will sync music/podcasts with your iOS device. But Dogcatcher looks like an Android-only app (with no desktop counterpart), so I'm guessing there's no syncing involved. Downloading happens directly on the phone.

My only issue going to something like this is that I'd need to start regularly plugging in my phone when I get home, so I could let it download podcasts automatically, without draining the battery. (I still do almost all my podcast listening through iTunes/iPod Touch. Even though I have a perfectly capable Android phone.)