So, what is this RSS thing all about? Read on…
What is RSS?The technical definition from wikipedia says: "RSS is a family of XML file formats for web syndication used by (amongst other things) news websites and weblogs. The technology behind RSS allows you to subscribe to websites that have provided RSS feeds, these are typically sites that change or add content regularly. To use this technology you need to set up some type of aggregation service. Think of this aggregation service as your personal mailbox. You then have to subscribe to the sites that you want to get updates on. Unlike typical subscriptions to pulp-based newspapers and magazines, your RSS subscriptions are free, but they typically only give you a line or two of each article or post along with a link to the full article or post. The RSS formats provide web content or summaries of web content together with links to the full versions of the content, and other meta-data. This information is delivered as an XML file called RSS feed, webfeed, RSS stream, or RSS channel. In addition to facilitating syndication, RSS allows a website’s frequent readers to track updates on the site using a news aggregator." Which programs can I use?Mac users: On Mac OS X there are a variety of programs you can use. If you are using OS X 10.4 Tiger, you can use Safari as it now has built in RSS. We also recommend NetNewsWire and NewsFire Windows users: Give Newscrawler or Awasu a try. Linux users, we’re not leaving you out, it’s just you probably have all this worked out already.
Firefox users If you are having difficulties with the RSS feeds on marbecks.co.nz, and you are running a standard installation of Firefox (i.e. you haven’t installed a standalone News Reader) then you may get a message similar to:
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What does it mean for me?RSS and RSS/News aggregator programs will let you subscribe to different sections of the marbecks.co.nz website. Doing this means you will be notified when these sections change. So rather than going to the new releases section of the website (for example) everyday to see if anything has changed, when there is a change, the new releases section of the website will come to you. RSS feeds are really lightweight, quick to download summary versions of a section or page with links back to the site for more detailed information. It’s a really quick way to see whats new at a glance. RSS Feeds at Marbecks
In sections of marbecks.co.nz you can find the
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: Safari has built in RSS capabilities. On RSS enabled pages a blue RSS icon
OmniWeb Users: OmniWeb 5 can be used with RSS feeds. On RSS enabled pages a little newspaper icon
Firefox users, you should see an orange icon TroubleshootingSome browsers do not like URLs that start with "feed://", and prefer them to be "http://". Symptoms you may be seeing are error messages like:
If you have not installed one of the suggested dedicated news readers and you are getting any of the errors described, when trying to subscribe to one of our RSS feeds, here are some suggestions.
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Available FeedsFor your convenience we have listed all the available RSS feeds below. This list is for use by people who do have a dedicated RSS news reader installed. If you do not, try our alternate feeds page. |
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Classical
Christian
Recommended CDs
Recommended DVDs
Recommended GamesRecommended Apparel |
Hot ProductsNewsChartsSpecialsNew Release CDs
New Release DVDs
New Release Games |
image just under the menu on the left. This indicates that the content of that page is available via RSS. Clicking on the link will subscribe you to that page.
appears in the Address Bar letting you know that a RSS feed is available for that page. When it does, click the icon to view the RSS feed.
appears in the Status Bar (at the bottom of your browser window) letting you know that a RSS feed is available for that page. When it does, click the icon to subscribe to the RSS feed.
at the bottom right of your browser window, letting you know that a RSS feed is available for that page. When it does, click the icon to view the RSS feed.
