User Reviews

"MacSOUP is a remarkably useful and easy-to-use off-line mail reader. It combines news and e-mail, has an intuitive interface and a very good address book, and is one of the few Mac programs to work with UQWK, so you don't need TCP - a shell connection will work. MacSOUP can be configured so it is not something you even have to think about. The new version, 2.1, will work with TCP connections as well as UQWK mail packets, but requires Internet Config."
—David Zatz

"MacSOUP, shareware at $20, is simply the best off-line news and mail program available for [the] Mac. It allows me to use [an off-line connection] with a Waffle Bulletin Board, as well as my regular PPP connection. Features are: easy to subscribe/unsubscribe to newsgroups, good kill files, multiple mail boxes, easy to use reply and followup commands, multiple configurations for different servers, accounts etc.,...need I go on?"
—Chris Smith

"I use MacSOUP regularly as my news client application of choice. By retrieving the entire text of subscribed newsgroups in batch mode, the user can spend as much time offline in examining the content. The status of retrieval is shown in in a small window with a progress bar. After MacSOUP completes the retrieval of the textual data, the user can be notified via a system beep. Alternatively, an AppleScript can be initiated (such as one to disconnect a PPP session).

"While reading a news article, you are able to see a branching graphical representation of the current message thread (with symbolic representation of whether a given posting has been read or not). While examining the graphical thread, moving the cursor over a message yields the name of the author. Finally, a fairly flexible kill file option is included.

"The one area where MacSOUP could stand improvement is in its inability to UUdecode binaries (either single or multiple segment). At least one other news client, Nuntius, has this capability."

—Mike Oetting

"MacSOUP is great. I don't waste online time, and its email with newsgroup reader package is the best. MacSOUP also has an article thread tree, which helps you keep track of a topic. This is a must-use program for the beginner Net user."
—Toby Kels

"I have been using MacSOUP for about 3 years now, first on dial-up and now with a permanent Internet connection. Even though I don't "need" an offline reader anymore, MacSOUP still does an amazing job; the killfile facility is as flexible as that on complex UNIX news clients, but remains very easy to use. Being able to fetch all articles from some groups and only headers from others (e.g., binary groups) makes browsing fast and comfortable. And with all the e-mail viruses these days, there's another reason to use a program which does NOT support message attachments."
—Graham Reed

"MacSOUP is rather lovely, especially the threading for offline news reading. Flaws: it insists on using Internet Config, which makes it difficult at best to have two different people (with different email addresses) to use it for news and mail reading, which is a shame. There's also no 'take address into addressbook' that I could find...."
—Stuart Langridge

"I use this on an old Performa 200 (Classic II) and it runs very quickly. The layout of the windows etc. is fine on the small screen and it looks good even in monochrome. This is an ideal newsreader if you are a bit short on processor horsepower. The graphical thread indicator is excellent. The only minus points are that it doesn't handle attachments very well and it can't decode binaries automatically. The ability to customise mail headings is a plus. Recommended!"
—Paul Foster

"The best Shareware app I've ever used - in fact the only one I have paid for. Brilliant. I even use if my Email now as well, it does lack in attachment support, but I set the message limit to download and use Eudora then. Attachment support is promised for the next release. It's a breeze to send messages to multiple NG's or Email and post replies at the same time. Get it NOW."
—Andy Hewitt

"Still the only program with an easily-navigable two-dimensional thread overview and the ability to fast-read tagged messages only -- like "trn" on Unix. Downside: No Carbon version, no ability to export a full .newsrc file."
—Matthias Urlichs

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