What is RSS?
From the visitor's standpoint, RSS is basically a way to read news items, from many different websites, in a centralized area. Most readers have a way to "check off" what you've read, so when you subscribe to different "feeds", you can easily keep track of what you've already read.
Most sites have an easy way to add their feed to your reader of choice. Here's a list of popular readers with easy to use shortcuts for adding my feed:
If you aren't using one of these readers, you can right-click
this link
and copy the link
address into your reader. If you accidentally click the link and get some
garbage like:
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Kawlinz Beats</title>
<link>http://www.kawlinz.com/</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<description>A blog of Vince Kawlinz ...
Don't worry about it, it confused the hell out of me too before I knew what the hell it was. It's all just markup so that your reader knows how to display the different parts of the message. Just right-click the link, and copy the link address.
What is RSS (again)?
From a webmaster's point of view, the intent is that an individual will no longer have to check your website for new content, and instead be notified in the reader of their choice that you have a new item for reading on your website. It sounds like a bad thing, but really it isn't. At worst, you've given your audience a reminder when you update your site, which is especially nice if your updates aren't frequent. Almost a "set it and forget it" addition to your website, instead of a "forgot it" website.