Converting RSS feed to different formats using FeedBurner services

So, why should anyone bother converting RSS feed format? The answer is that RSS feeds can have various formats: RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, Atom 0.3, Atom 1.0, etc. RSS reader has to know these formats and display the feed normally as if its format is the same for all feeds.

At present I’m using SharpReader as my primary RSS reading tool and there is one thing that I’m annoyed with – its memory consumption. I have smth around 180 feeds in my feed list. After SharpReader refreshes them all, its memory consumption rises to more then 200 Mb. It is not appropriate for me.

Recently I've obtained link that lead me to the download page of Internet Explorer 7 Beta3.
Though there was Beta2 out there already for quite long, I didn’t want to bother myself with “raw” product, especially if it is Internet Explorer :8-).

However, now it is Beta3 and I thought why not? Installation was okay. Then I exported RSS feeds from SharpReader into OPML file and imported it into IE.
Import was also fine, feeds hierarchy was preserved, what I really appreciate.

I’ll omit describing some inconveniences with feeds browsing I experienced with IE, and focus myself on the issue that can explain the title of this post :8-).

IE 7 Beta3 supports only several RSS formats!!! I was surprised. Namely, IE doesn’t have support for RDF format.

So, if RDF is not supported I have to convert it to something that is supported, for example RSS 2.0. How to resolve? FeedBurner comes to rescue!

Here are the steps do obtain converted feed:
1) go to http://www.feedburner.com
2) if you have an account there - sign in, if not – register and sign in
3) burn a feed. Put in the url of the feed that has unsupported format
4) after feed is burnt, go to main page, select it and then select “Optimize” tab
5) then select “Convert Format Burner”. This option will let you select appropriate RSS format. Choose “Save” and that’s it, you can use new feed url instead of the old one.

Example of such converted feed is
RDF: http://www.ixbt.com/export/articles.rdf
RSS 2.0: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Ixbt