Google Reader is Dead*. Long live everything else.
I’m trialling Feedly at the moment.
The Feedly interface. Clean and minimalist. To a point. Which is followed by ads.
The good
- Sign in via Google and all your feeds auto-magically transfer to Feedly.
- The Feedly iphone app (and presumably its counterpart for Android devices) syncs everything across all my devices so I can read my feeds whenever, wherever
The bad
- I can’t seem to alphabetise my feeds at the moment
- Feedly lacks a Chrome bookmarklet – I’d like to just click something in the dropdown bookmark bar in Chrome to subscribe when I come across a blog I want to follow
- The *($%&%feckin ads-they’re only at the very top right of the feed and disappear as you scroll but heck ads just make me wanna kick punch the perpetrator in the head-I used paid versions for all my apps because I can’t stand any ‘buy this sh*t’ messages encroaching on my peaceful existance (and if it’s well made then it’s worth paying for)
Keep scrolling and they disappear but that horrible advertisement aftertaste lingers..
I’ll be testing a couple of other web-based RSS aggregators over the coming week (in so much as Uni and social commitments will allow):
- Google Currents-I don’t want to use this because I no longer feel Google deserves my time. Cutting off Reader while shitty things like Google plus and Orkut (don’t ask) still exist is just plain shite, I don’t care what their excuse is. I would’ve paid to keep using Reader, too bad that option was never on the table. However, I value functionality (and design) above all so if this works I’m ready to be pragmatic and eat a little crow.
- Pulse: looks beautiful but I don’t know if I’m ready for magazine format yet. I subscribe to a lot of very different feeds and having all those disparate images crowded together magazine-style will just give me the heebiejeebies. I’m also worried it’ll be a b*tch to use on mobile devices (download allowance-wise).
- Newsblur: Looks like the most promising of the non-Feedly set. $1 for the full version and it if works well I will jump on it ($12 a year for pain-free blog reading seems well worth the cost).
- Flipboard: That dreaded magazine format again, combined with ‘social’ extras (I have a blog and I’m on twitter. I don’t need any more social interaction, particularly during reading time-I wanna read my stories in peace goddammit).
- Netvibes: The website looks a tad too ‘oriented to attract business users‘-the cost for the ‘full deal’ supports that hypothesis. Givin’ this one a miss.
If you’re trying out any of these or know of other acceptable alternatives (yes I know bloglovin’ exists I’m just not a fan of the interface), give me a holler.
EDIT: Digg is building a Reader replacement. Please request feature requests and suggestions in the comments to that article or tweet them @digg.
And now for some light relief (video of some old movie of Hitler getting pissed off at getting his @$$ kicked by the Allied Forces with the Reader fiasco parodied over it-avoid if this sort of thing pisses you off. Or if you’re at work. I loved the two crying ladies. “Don’t worry he can still export the feed as an XML file“).
Thanks for the summary and review. I’m very p*ssed about Google reader too. I’ve played a little bit with bloglovin (not lovin at all) and the wordpress reader within my blog tonight but not a happy camper. Feeddemon might be okay but its not mobile. Time to give up and go to bed!
Not lovin’ harhar XD
It looks good… thanks for this overview. I am looking for good feeds view for Google blogs.
No more google reader makes me sad, I’ll have to look at some of your links to see if any are customizable enough. Last night I moved all my subscriptions to the wordpress reader but I don’t like it much
*sigh* the WP reader. So much potential so little real world achievement. . I did try it a while back. Then I gave up.
I have been trying out Flipboard on my phone. I ignore/don’t link any other social media (ie twitter & Facebook) and do not use it for my news source either. I have been impressed with the format for blog reading. It provides a good interface to read the blogs I follow anywhere, anytime. So much better than Google reader, which more often than not does not play well with iOS.
I am upset. And to think I had the BEST hot chocolate this morning. Will look into Feedly later. Thank you.
hahahaha best ever.XD
I almost started crying when I found out last night…. but Feedly looks “prettier” and I don’t mind the ads so much so I’ll give it a try. Please let us know if you find anything better!
Will do.
‘m getting soo very tired of google.they just want to collect info so they canvsell ,it and lambast you you with ads.
think my bbokmarks will grow and i’ll do the rounds once ,a week.
No don’t give up-’cuz then the great evil wins XD We’ll just adapt and evolve to something else and it won’t be funnelling funds into Google’s pockets. *win*
Someone pointed me to “The Old Reader” last night. I haven’t given it much of a test yet. You’re supposed to also be able to import your G-Reader feeds, but too many people were using it yesterday so that option was limited. I don’t know if there are any ads as I haven’t begun adding my feeds yet. Good luck!!
Cool thanks Sully, I’ll give it a whirl (although anything with a ‘Social’ aspect skeeves me out a bit because it means someone, somewhere is analysing my browsing habits and using that data without my permission to make themselves money-which is fine if they’re open about it but no one ever seems to be XD).
I am a very late adapter to Google Reader…and now it’s dying. (Maybe I did it in!) I will be looking to you for guidance on where to go next.
XD You did not! It’s just a lack of foresight on the part of Google management. They could’ve totally turned it into a paid thing (newbies are charging $12 a year that is a lot when there’s a couple of million people using it)-it’s worth it. But they’d rather focus on their failed social networking instead so it is what it is.
Thanks for being on top of this. Google is making a mistake by dropping Reader. GR was their main product I used all the time. I would have paid to use it too. I have Pulse on my mobile device and it works OK. I am with you though and get overwhelmed by all the cover shots. Pulse won’t work for me on the computer because I don’t have a touch screen. Hope Feedly is a good option. Heard they are still trying to build it due to the GR fallout.
Cheers Javie. Thank you for leaving a comment on my original subscriptions post-I was at the time alt+tabbing every alternative I could find and your comment made me realise *so was everyone else* so I though it would be good put up a summary of the ‘good’ (time will tell) ones so everyone doesn’t have to be struggling with the exact same thing and can use their time more productively on the most ‘Reader-like’ ones XD
Oh yes thank you for this! I noticed this last night and nearly fell off my chair! I really like my Google Reader (even though it is google) and I’ve just become so accustomed to the format that reading other readers just don’t cut it. I too am not a fan of Bloglovin because I hate having to click out of the reader to get the full story. Uggh. Thanks for the heads up and the list of new readers to try.
Cheers. Yes, I have a chrome extension for Reader that basically let’s me ‘unfurl’ all abbreviated posts (cannot stand that) with a single click. I can even comment on them within Reader. And the blog still gets a hit from my visit so win-win for everyone.
Yes, I was rather shocked about google reader – I am also tying feedly on my ipad but it seems awfully slow to load all my subscriptions, plus the added pain of having to learn to use it.
I am annoyed with the speed too. Lag is unacceptable. On any device.
I’m planning on giving Newsblur a try. I’m hoping it works out. I am not happy with Google right now…
Yeah, I know you said no to bloglovin’, but the experience is much improved when you use the bloglovin’ chrome extension since it will just notify you with how many unread posts you have (although, judging by your feed there, that doesn’t seem like it would be helpful to you). For what it’s worth, I’ll relay your complaints to Google directly, I do run into a lot of their engineers XD.
Yes, please. Do it with a laptop. Across the side of their face. XD What’m I saying it’s not their fault their employers are being d*cks..They should mutiny. XD
Please keep us posted. I was uber annoyed to find this news when I opened Reader this morning. ARG.
Gawd. Google is starting to really piss me off!! Maybe the people who designed google reader will break off and form their own company and launch something exactly like google reader (kind of like what happened with the Ribbet predecessor). Will have to check out feedly!
Ya Google is becoming the evil they warned everyone else not to be.. XD
I really like Feeddler. I use it on my iPhone and iPad and they sync with each other. It sounds similar to feedly as in you also use your google account to sign in and whatever you’re following with blogger shows up in your feed. You can also add your feeds to folders if you have multiple interests or categories.
The cons: it’s not available on your computer. You have to open a story in your web browser to comment or like.
Thanks! I came across this one earlier but I need something that syncs automagically across my devices. Interface isn’t bad though.
I need to figure our an alternative too. Thanks for reviewing / letting us know how you’re sorting through what’s available.
Newsblur looks interesting but I have not tried. 12 bucks is nothing if it delivers. I’m on 3 different readers and just about going nuts. Time for a change.
Going back to bloglines
At this stage, Blogger completely satisfies my needs. I use Feedly on my mobile phone, which is OK. I’ve read good feedbacks about waubr and skimr but have not used them.
Cool, good to know. I don’t have a blogger account though-and that’s still a Google thing but I’ll look into the other two thanks!
I’m so annoyed with Google, especially since my blog is on blogger. Maybe I’ll just use “my blog list” on my blog, or go back to using favourites.
I knew you would be onto this straight away, I almost asked you in my comment yesterday but it seemed wrong to hijack the happy interview post with a moan about google. I’ve googled (ironically enough) various alternatives but still in super early testing days and I do not want any social media clutter either. What I really want is basically something that does exactly what reader does and I am really hoping someone smart with lots of resources can get it together by July 1, but maybe that’s just me being naive and in denial!
Thanks Alison, this means a lot to me!
So I added this edit to the post today: Digg is building a Reader replacement. Please request feature requests and suggestions in the comments to that article or tweet them @digg.
So apparently Digg meant to release their reader in the second half of the year but now they’ve pulled it forward. They’re taking suggestions and the overall sentiment in their comments seems to be just make another reader that works fast + well and if you’re adding any ‘improvements’ (i.e. social setting, magazine view etc) make them optional i.e. default is regular Reader style interface. This should be good because with a couple of hundred disparate subscriptions all I want is a clean tiled way to get through them-quickly. So yea I think I’ll do another article on what it is I’m looking for in a Reader and then tick off the good and bad (at the mo’ unfortunately, much of it looks bad-for my needs anyway). May have to resort to using a device based app type setup. But hey, if it works… =S
Thanks for the update, this makes me very happy and I have posted a comment and signed up for their progress updates. I am no techie and I am sure my comments are idiotic but I wanted to show my support. Go Digg!
I started looking for a Google replacement when they first announced they were going to get rid of igoogle … I’ve been using Netvibes for awhile now – its worth a try. I only use there free account and there is no ads at all on my personal pages – I’m able to have a page just for blog feeds, a page for news feeds etc… colors and layout are customizable… After I read your post I thought Id try it out on my phone and although there is no app yet, there mobile site worked great. They do seem a little business oriented when you first check them out but at least that’s where they are making there money (from those that need to pay $500.00/month lol) and not from ads and such …
I found your blog a few weeks ago and I’m really enjoying it … you’ve inspired me to try sewing from magazine patterns – (just signed up for a Burda subscription) … after trying to sew simple things from commercial patterns and having miserable luck with fit etc…
Thanks for the post, and please keep them up when you find out more.
I’m currently trying The Old Reader and Feedly, but they’re both jammed by the amount of traffic.
I’ve had a look at several “alternatives” in the past couple of days, and Feedly is the least worst I’ve seen so far, though I don’t think it’s great. The Old Reader is the other one that might be viable, I’m importing my subscriptions at the moment, will give that a whirl (only 302 users in front of me, down to – I think it was 1700 – this morning. It’ll be interesting to see what Digg comes up with. I would have paid money for Google Reader too, and I’m really annoyed that it wasn’t even an option….
For Firefox users, there’s a browser extension called Sage (I’m also trying that on, so don’t really have an opinion on it yet, apart from the fast that it seems okay-ish so far. There are things I like about it and things I don’t, but it’s nice to have options…):
There’s a petition to keep Google Reader running… it probably won’t do much good…but maybe it’s worth signing?
(About 108,000 signatures so far…. )
I just hope they don’t get rid of Google Maps next…
Yea Old Reader wants all my info and the ability to make changes on my behalf in my absence. Not gonna happen.
The petition I saw a couple of days ago but na, I have well and truly burned all Google bridges, I will not beg. I’d rather pay for something good and have a say in its future and I’m looking for alternatives to all the Google services I use. XD
Something truly horrible just occured to me: when you said feedburner would die, that meant my blogroll would be decimated. Oh Noes!!!! What shall I do??? *wails of despair* This is just too much work!!!
Na it’s just Reader not feedburner but I dunno how long the latter will last-Google seems to be on a culling sweep =P
Google mutter mutter mutter
Thanks for trying out all these alternatives and telling us about them. I’m still head-in-sanding until I have to face up. Another few days left ….