Google Reader getting shut down July 1st

[Nick]

I'm so upset by this. I use Google Reader religiously. It is the way I consume all my content. I spend probably an hour a day just reading news in it. All the blogs (techcrunch, gizmodo) ski blogs, including those from AZ members, etc. The app is simple, clean, and easy to use.

Lame!!!

 

[timm]

Glad they are pulling the plug on this incredibly functional and popular service to devote the resources to Google+ - something that serves no purpose and that nobody likes.

 

[wtcobb]

Aw man. First iGoogle, now this. I use Google Reader constantly. It's how I access AZ!

 

[ctenidae]

I've never used Google Reader, or any other RSS (until I just read an article on Google Reader, I didn't know what RSS stood for, and I find I've already forgotten). As such, I have no emotional or functional attachment to it. From that seat, it makes sense to shut it down, if it's a resource-intensive, but low yield business segment.

Of course, I'm a digital Neanderthal.

 

[wtcobb]

Looking into replacement services, feedly offers a proposed seamless transition from Reader to their RSS feed:

http://blog.feedly.com/2013/03/14/google-reader/

Any experience with feedly or any other RSS reader? I've seen some out there that have far too much social integration and try to recommend too many stories. I liked Reader because of the simplicity - it only showed you what you wanted to see, but had social/recommendation components if you really wanted to dive in to those areas.

 

[wtcobb]

When iGoogle went away I considered building my own start page to house my email, RSS, Evernote, and a few other apps I use regularly (weather, etc.). I might have to do that now. I liked having everything in one interface, even if the "black bar" does open new windows, at least it's all accessible.

 

[ScottySkis]

No not good.

 

[riverc0il]

First Whaleback and now this???!?!

I transitioned to Google Reader from Sage in Firefox. Sage wasn't getting much attention and I never found a stylesheet I liked (and I was too lazy to write my own). And then I started using Chrome, so that ended that.

Google Reader is damn near perfect for a feed reader. Time to start looking at alternatives. For someone that follows dozens of blogs and feeds, a reader is as essential as email to me.

 

[wtcobb]

More bad news: Boston's Phoenix is closing its doors too.

What a day.

 

[riverc0il]

I'm trying Feedly out right now. I changed the settings to full articles (if bloggers don't do a cut like they should, makes my life easier to read the article on the reader page) and went to the "All" page so I can read full articles if not cut. Words pretty well. I don't like the sidebar on the right hand side which takes up real estate. I deactivated the widgets but it still shows a feed summary. Totally wasted space.

Better than Google Read on my mobile. Though I tend to use Currents on mobile for a different set of blogs that I tend to skim more and read full articles at a significantly lower rate than Google Reader.

I've always been surprised at the limited amount of great feed readers that are available. Obviously, it isn't a money maker but there are enough programmers pumping out free apps and software that you'd think there would be a massive amount of interesting apps to choose from.

 

[wtcobb]

I've been trying Feedly too. Still getting used to it before I recommend it fully, but seems like a good replacement.

I have noticed the Amazon ads along the side - seems like an easy way to try to monetize the app through related material in posts. It's not obtrusive enough to bother me, and if it keeps the service active so be it.

 

[riverc0il]

I'm want to try http://theoldreader.com but it is going to take months to upload my feed export at this rate. I may just manually do it, I only have a few dozen feeds. It is stylized similar to Google, which I like. There isn't much to an RSS reader, it is a pretty damn simple function. It is all about style and visual presentation, though. Regardless of what Reader folks substitute with, it is clear that even if Google didn't think Reader was worth running, it was clearly a much beloved online app and a ton of people are seeking out alternatives.

 

[bvibert]

I saw a story that Feedly has over 500,000 new users since Google made the announcement. You would think that with that kind of user base they could figure out a way to make it worthwhile...

 

[Nick]

Feedly is nice and has a lot of visual "zing" but that's not what I wanted. I loved Google Reader because it's just so dead simple. SEe a list of articles. I would scroll through them and then "mark previous as unread" until I came to something that interested me. Read it, then continue on my way.

The other readers are all too ... flashy I guess.