An excellent question my friend. I'm sure you've noticed that here on The Internet, we like our acronyms. It's just too much trouble to say World Wide Web, so we just write WWW. And don't get me started on Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, AJAX is much easier(wait...what's AJAX? Don't worry about that right now...if you're really curious Wikipedia has a pretty good definition).
Now, where was I...oh right, RSS. Conventional Internet lore holds that RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. I could say that RSS is like the mail system of the Web. But that would kind of be inaccurate in light of email and all. But the comparison is still apt. Think of RSS as the subscription part of mail. You know, all those magazines and newsletters that you were always so excited to get, yea, that's what RSS does. Any time that someone you're interested in hearing from or reading about publishes something new on his or her website, you get it dropped off in your personal inbox.
So, if you noticed there, I just mentioned "your personal inbox". What's all that then? What "personal inbox"? I don't have a personal inbox? Do I?
Well, maybe you do, and then again maybe you don't. See, some websites offer an email version of their site's RSS feed. But then again, others don't. So, if your really interested in RSS feeds, you're going to want to look into a dedicated RSS reader. Now, I'm not going to go into an in-depth RSS reader review here, but I will give some basic tips when choosing one.
If you plan on reading your feeds primarily while online, then there really is only on supreme choice: Google Reader. Especially if you're a user of other Google products like Gmail or Picasa, then you already have a Google Reader account, and you didn't even know it.
Google Reader gives you the benefit of synchronized feeds across a limitless number of computers, and even a lot of mobile devices and smartphones, because Google has allowed other app developers to use their service in their own applications, Google Reader becomes the central hub for all your feed reading, no matter where you may actually be reading from.
If offline reading is a little more your speed, then you've got a bunch of good RSS reader choices. Mac users can turn to Net News Wire, among other choices. Windows folk can turn to Feed Demon from the same people as Net News Wire.
Disclaimer: I'm a Mac user and have far more experience with RSS readers on that platform. I recommend Net News Wire from personal experience, but Feed Demon from reputation only. If I missed a fantastic RSS reader for Windows or Mac, please let me know.
Again, apologies to those on other device platforms, but like any good author, I write what I know. For the iPhone/iPod Touch Reeder is, in my eyes, the premier RSS reader, and also happens to sync with Google Reader. If you're serious about your feeds, this is the reader for you.
I truly hope this has given you a nice overview of RSS, what it's used for, and how you can get the most out of it. Now, after all of this, I really hope you'll subscribe to my RSS feed. But you should also get out there and check out feeds from other sites too. Any major website out there with content that's updated on a regular basis should have a feed. Go explore, and enjoy.