With Google Reader closing down on July 1st — and clearly losing some functionality as that day grows near — David Pogue has published a good article recommending that people switch to Feedly.
I agree.
Check the comments for even more alternatives
Also, check out Update On My Search For A Google Reader Replacement
And read Facebook May Unveil Google Reader Replacement.
Digg Announces Their Google Reader Replacement
Flow Reader looks like a nice alternative to Google Reader, and you can read more about it at Richard Byrnes’ blog. For a person like me who gets stuck in his ways, it’s particularly nice since it seems to look and function like Google Reader, and it has even easier sharing functions.
Google has just announced they are shutting down Google Reader, many people’s favorite RSS Reader, on July 1st.
This does not make me a happy camper.
There are alternatives, however, that make it very easy to transfer Google Reader subscriptions — generally with a click of a button.
They include:
You can read about others here.
Educators’ Guide to RSS and Google Reader Replacements is another great post by Sue Waters. It’s probably the best review of alternatives that I’ve seen.
AOL Unveils RSS Reader That Isn’t Half-Bad
What alternative do you suggest?
I just hope that closing down Feedburner — the Google service that actually creates RSS feeds — is not next.
Of course, there is always the option of also subscribing to most blogs by email. You can subscribe to this blog here, for instance.
Netvibes is my favorite place to read RSS feeds. I’ve been using it for several years and it has a visually appealing and yet easy to use interface. You can also add other widgets, in addition to RSS feeds.
— JenniferM (http://ihabloespanglish.blogspot.com/)
I used to use Google Reader, but I switched to Tiny Tiny RSS a few years ago. It lacks the awesome tagging structure of Google Reader (and also the convenience of a Google-hosted solution), but it’s still pretty good. And I like the customisability it gives me.
That and NewsBlur would be my top recommendations, but I’ve blogged a couple of others, if you’re interested, at http://hg.s.danq.me/ (along with tips on exporting your Google Reader feed list as OPML so you can import it into NewsBlur or whatever you end up using instead).
I’ve heard rumors of Feedburner going away too. What options do we have as bloggers and blog readers if that happens?
That’s a good question. The option I’ve heard most about is Feedblitz, which now handles my email subscribers. But I have a question into Edublogs about this right now. I’ll blog about it when and if I get better information.
Hi Larry,
If you’re looking for an alternative to skim headlines please give Skim.Me a try (http://skim.me). We’re a startup releasing another version soon to help you keep up at a glance.
Thanks,
Clinton Wu
Larry,
I agree with you… I’m deeply disappointed that Google is shutting down Reader. And as good as your suggestions for alternatives are, I suspect most of them will be fairly poor replacements for Reader…
a) Reader is a part of the Google suite of tools. When I’m logged into Gmail all day, have my Calendar and Drive open, regularly connecting to YouTube or Maps or Blogger, then the convenience of having Reader as part of that suite is huge. In a school situation, running Google Apps for Education, the fact that it’s just a built-in part of the environment you work in is hugely powerful. Single sign on. One click, boom, you’re there. Alternatives will break that convenience.
b) Reader is not just a website, it’s a whole RSS management engine. Most of the ways I consume the RSS feeds in Reader don’t actually involve me going to reader.google.com. Instead, they are picked up by Flipboard, River of News, or some other service. I have feeds that act as triggers for cron jobs. I have feeds that do all sorts of things and end up on all sorts of other services and devices, and the reason I can do this is because the Reader API is so open and ubiquitous. When I open FlipBoard I see an option to automatically grab the feeds from Reader… I don’t see any other options there for Bloglines or Feedly or Newsblur. I may be able to set that up manually, I don’t know I haven’t looked, but these other tools don’t have anywhere near the ubiquity of the Reader API.
c) I think your fears about losing Feedburner are well founded. I’m concerned about that too.
d) Like many bloggers, I’ve gradually built up a readership through people subscribing to my blog. While I don’t suppose that all of them subscribe using Reader, I’m sure many do. I’ll be expecting to see my blog readership numbers fall through the floor when Reader gets turned off. I think the same will happen to many others.
e) overall, I’m just disappointed that Google would even consider doing this. As an enthusiastic Google user, Google Certified Teacher, and Google Apps Certified Trainer, it makes me annoyed and embarrassed that Google would kill off a product that so many people clearly care deeply about. Reader may not be sexy and shiny like Google+ but it’s hugely powerful and has an huge following. To see the #Reader hashtag push the #pope hashtag from the top spot today certainly makes me wonder how they can claim that “hardly anyone uses Reader”. I’m hoping they will listen to the people and reverse this decision, much like they did recently with Calendar Appointment Slots. Google CAN show they listen to what people want. I just hope they do it this time as well.
d) I get that Reader is a free service. I get that Google has the right to do whatever the hell it wants with it. But to give it to us and then suddenly take it away feels like bait and switch to me. It makes me question what else might get taken away some day. And it makes me feel much like I can rely on, or trust, Google. I’d even offer to pay an annual fee for Reader, but that hasn’t even been offered as an option.
It’s all just very disappointing.
Chris
I have been working on one for the last couple of weeks, and will hopefully create it as a fully functional RSS reader:
http://nuesbyte.com/
for more information, visit me on reddit username: 7hundredand77
nuesbyte.com looks promising. I’m going to keep an eye on it.
Thanks for tip. I’m going to try The Old Reader.
I tried Newsblur this evening, but I’m not going to use it because it limits me small number of feeds unless I pay for the subscription.
I think the result of this adventure is that Google going to end up pushing more people to use Twitter more often.
Here’s a crowdsourced list of alternatives to Google Reader. Feel free to vote/comment and suggest additions.
http://list.ly/list/33u-google-reader-rss-reader-alternatives-crowdsourced-list
What do you think of Bloglink? I found it easy to set up.
I haven’t checked it out.