Hello blog friends,
As you have no doubt heard by now, Google has announced that they will be shutting down Google Reader on July 1 ..and I am seriously bummed. (And quite honestly, pissed)
I use my Reader daily to keep up with all of my favorite blogs, as I am sure many of you do. The internet is buzzing with public outcry, and I am hoping that the Google team pays attention and changes their mind, but I am not holding my breath. I am seriously considering finding replacements for all of my Google products (what if they decide to nix Blogger next?!)
I have been searching for a replacement feed reader, but I am confused by the options out there, and I want something with similar features as Google's reader (show only new feed posts, mark read items, flag favorites, tags and folders, and ability to see entire post not just the title)
So, I am asking for input from my fellow blog readers...
What feed reader do you use? Likes, dislikes?
If you are also a Google Reader user, what have you found to replace it with? Pros, cons?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Lorrinda
EDIT: Thank you for the comments and suggestions! I decided to try out Bloglovin' and Feedly, and while they were both very easy to set up and transfer my Reader data, I need to try them out for a while before I decide.
Bloglovin' is easy but I wish it had the ability to scan through the entire post, not just a snippet (although it does force followers to open/pageview blogs). It is just a PITA to click open each blog when you sometimes have 100 or more new posts to scan. Also, no ap for my iPad, but it does work in the Safari browser just as it does in Windows on my laptop. There is an iPhone Ap, just not iPad...so maybe this is in development. Of course I have a stupid Blackberry so the phone Ap is moot...sometimes I hate technology.
Feedly has an awesome iPad ap, very user friendly, but alas...it doesn't work at all on my laptop running Windows 9. Also, there were a few uncategorized blogs that I should have organized into folders in Reader, and now I have no way to edit them on the ipad.
So far, my feeling is I like Bloglovin' on my laptop, but prefer Feedly on my iPad. I will try them out for a week to see which gets used more often... initial feeling is Bloglovin' simply because it is useable on both of my devices.
Hi Lorrinda, thank you for your informative post. I never did sign up for Google Reader and follow my blogs through my dashboard page. All the blogs I follow are listed with the most recent posts on top. I usually only go to blogger from my desktop as I prefer to read from the computer screen. I don't feel as if I'm missing out on anything....Good luck in your search for a reader.
ReplyDelete:) Marie
I'm using feedly. Fancy Melissa recommended it. Google it. Tip: organize your blogs first in google reader and that will help with Feedly.
ReplyDeleteI switched over to bloglovin and like it so far. You can easily transfer all of the blogs you subscribe to in reader to bloglovin with one click. :)
ReplyDeleteI switched over to bloglovin and like it so far. You can easily transfer all of the blogs you subscribe to in reader to bloglovin with one click. :)
ReplyDeleteI like Bloglovin'..... it's very similar to Google Reader. Fast and easy to set up.... give it a try to see if you like it.
ReplyDeleteYou can upload all your followed blogs from Reader with a touch of a button. Once posts are marked as read, then only the new posts show up in the count. You can put blogs/websites into groups (folders). You don't see the whole post, though, which I liked in Reader as well, but it's been surprisingly easy to get used to. You can scan through them, click anything that you want to read all of and it will take you to the post, and then when you click 'back', that post is dimmed (meaning read). If you don't want to read the rest in the group, you just click the button that says "mark all in this group as read" and it will dim them all and remove them from the count!
I'm lovin' it so far.... I guess that's why it's named Bloglovin' :)
I have heard good things about Feedly and Bloglovin', but I would suggest that you read about the pros and cons of each before making your decision. I still haven't made my final decision, but I still have a little time.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to a blog that compares the two readers, which might be of help:
http://noshon.it/blog/2013/03/google-reader-alternatives-feedly-vs-bloglovin/#.UWLn17VraM8
On a side note, how was your Bon Jovi concert? Loved it, but was sad (and felt a little ripped off) that Richie wasn't there. ;)
I just moved over the feedly.com and I am extremely pleased with how easy it was to transfer all my blogs over! I really like the different ways you can view your blogs and it's easy on the eyes...even better than Google Reader. Give it a try!
ReplyDeleteNow, I use "THE OLD READER". It's exactly the same as Google Reader.
ReplyDelete