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:( Google Reader to End

March 14, 2013, 9:09 am

Perhaps I am the last one to get the word on this, but I have happily depended on Google Reader for years for my blog and news reading.   Recommendations for an alternative would be greatly appreciated, but I am not optimistic anything will be a good replacement, particularly since I frequently use the simply link in Reader to Gmail to send stories to friends and family.

reader

I blame Twitter.

Update:  As an aside, Google's behavior here seems to be exactly the opposite of the fears people usually have vis a vis monopolies.  Google gained a dominant market share by leveraging off other strong products and under-cutting prices (ie free).  I would be thrilled if they did what monopoly-phobes fear, which is raise prices.   I would happily pay, say, $10 a month to keep the service.  But in fact, Google, having subsidized its way to market leadership, is simply liquidating.

 Update #2:  Lots of alternatives out there.  In the end, this may be a positive since Google Reader had not really innovated much of late.

Tags: , , ,
Category: Blogging, Computers & the Internet
  • Kevin

    I was also sad to learn Google Reader will be dying ... I have already started to look for alternatives. I'm trying netvibes.com right now and it looks like it has potential ... the updating has been bad today, but I think that's mainly because their servers are a bit overwhelmed with everyone trying to migrate from Google Reader!

  • Steve

    I blame the Pope...

    And if you find a good alternative, please blog about it. A 15 minute search this morning turned up nothing suitable for me.

  • Jeffrey Ellis

    I use Thunderbird for all my RSS needs.

  • TxBubba
  • Ray Van Dolson

    I use rss2email. This way my feeds show up in my inbox and I treat them like any other email (it isn't user friendly though -- CLI-based Python script).

  • http://cardioblogy.blogspot.com/ Jens Fiederer
  • http://profiles.google.com/bigtkirk Tom Kirkendall

    Warren, I've used Feedly for quite some time on my computer, Android phone and Nexus 7 tablet. Far better than GR.

  • Arthur Felter

    That's what I'm switching to.

  • shotgunner

    I'll try Feedly as recommended before me. But, as a fellow GR user, I also will like to hear what you end up using.

  • Joe_11

    If you have a Mac, Vienna is a superb open-source RSS client. If you have an iOS device, xFeed works great on the iPhone and iPad. Both are free. Both allow you to easily delete individual items discretely.

  • jon

    I was also trying netvibes. It seems over the top though. Not nice and simple single purpose like GR. I'll try Feedly next. Newsblur makes you pay money to see the whole post in the reader, pretty lame.

  • jon

    Oh, I remember why I didn't want to use Feedly - you have to install an add-on. Since I use different computers this is kind of a pain.

  • johnbr

    I've been reading your blog on Bloglines since I first found it, years ago.

  • http://twitter.com/polifrog polifrog

    I have a wordpress blog and added a plugin called Awe. The feedreader itself is accessed from the back end "dashboard".

    So far it feels a whole lot like GR in that I get a title that clicks to the source site and synopsis. And like GR I just keep scrolling down the list. There is even a post date, but unfortunately no post time.

    Tried feedly and have been impressed with the suggestions offered but have been unimpressed with the actual "read" of the feeds.

  • http://www.facebook.com/dansherman Dan Sherman

    Yeah, I'm switching to feedly, too. It's essentially the best option and I should have switched from reader to feedly long ago. But I'm lazy. ha!

  • http://twitter.com/LiveRealNow Jason

    I'm a bit of a GReader power user. I can't stand feedly's android app. Newsblur took a while to initialize, but the web app is nice. I'm testing their android app now, and will be testing their ipad app later.

  • Isaac

    I am much more likely to use a paid service (it's a buck a month) than a free one at this point. Free services depend on ad revenue to be sustainable. Inevitably, that makes them suck or they go away. At least with a paid service, the customer can pressure for better service.

  • http://matthewjudebrown.com/ Morven

    I'm in the same boat. Don't mind paying for a solution -- in fact, I'm increasingly leery of businesses that do not derive income from their users but rather someone else.

    It's why I turned down working at Google, well, that and their corporate culture.

  • http://twitter.com/polifrog polifrog

    I have been exploring feedly a little more. Once I found the tab on the left of the screen the reader's utility was vastly increased.

    Big thumbs up for feedly.

    I still like AWE, but feedly is slick.

  • http://profiles.google.com/maruadventurer john mcginnis

    If you are willing to host and roll your own, selfoss (selfoss.aditu.de/) is a decent choice. Set up the right ports on your home router and you can have access with any browser anywhere just like GR. Plus the keycodes are the same.

  • http://twitter.com/polifrog polifrog

    The Old Reader is apparently what GR once was. I never knew that old GR, but it is better than the current GR that is closing its doors.

    I'll be happy using The Old Reader...

  • PapaMAS

    I use NetVibes. (I wondered why it had suddenly slowed down and I got a message saying it was slow due to an influx of new users - now I know.) It has worked well for several years. Adding feeds is easy, either singly or using an OPML file. Grouping them into tabs is also pretty easy. I only used Google Reader either on my smartphone or when I was somewhere where NetVibes was being blocked.

    I used to use Feedly as well before they ticked me off a year or two ago. Been a bit, so I don't remember exactly what - it was an OK reader then they changed a setting which made it "cool" but much less useful than it had been. Haven't used it since the support claimed what I and others were asking for was impossible - despite it previously being offered. Enough griping.

    Before that I used PageFlakes which went away rather abruptly. I tried NewsFox but it was kinda slow and less visually appealing than even Google Reader.

  • http://www.toodarnhappy.com/ Kim Hall

    Two great posts on the best choice. Michael Hyatt (past CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers) details why he chose Feedly: http://michaelhyatt.com/feedly-to-replace-google-reader.html

    Copyblogger tackles the question from the blogger perspective, and how to best help your readers choose an alternative and make the switch: http://www.copyblogger.com/google-reader-alternatives/

  • jon

    I have no idea why people are so against free. GR gave good simple service for its life span. Not all companies/products last forever, even ones that you pay for. Some people say that GR killed all the competition, but that isn't true either. In the early days of many products you start with high competition and then it goes down as the useless ones are deemed useless and the good ones rise to the top of the heap. Sure, you can get a better product often times when you pay for it, but if all you want to do is read a blog and nothing else, then you don't care about the paid product.

    Sure you can pay for whale blubber and get the real deal but kerosene is a heck of a lot cheaper and does the job just fine. That's what I love about the free market, I have choices. I can get the bloated NetVibes or I can go with the slimmed down GR or better yet the simple and beautiful TheOldReader (if their servers would ever catch up with the influx of new users :) ).

  • obloodyhell

    The Pope should be blamed for erectile dysfunction. The end of Google's Reader should be blamed on an unusually small penis.

    Just making an observation.

  • obloodyhell

    I note that those over at Chicago Boyz are similarly bummed...

    Google Reader: The End

    I'll also note one of the responses for y'all:

    Toni Says:
    March 15th, 2013 at 3:12 am

    Google Reader is not dead!

    http://SmashingReader.com is the alternative. The only one!

    Sign up to be notified when we launch

  • Fat_Man

    I too am bummed about Reader. It suited my habits very well. I really would like a web based solution to replace it. But, I didn’t see anything that attracted me. One of the web based ones I looked at said that I had to agree to let them go through my e-mail address book. Sorry dudes.

    I use Mozilla Thunderbird as my mail program for my POP3 mail account. It has a built in RSS reader module that works like a news reader module from the old days. So I just down loaded my subscriptions from Reader and opened them up in Thunderbird.

    It works, but it will be hard to synch with my laptop. So, I am still looking for a web based solution. If anybody out there finds one, please share your experience with us.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gregor.wedam Gregor Wedam

    I recommend bloglines.com.

  • irandom

    That is why I wrote my own web based one for the 700+ blogs I follow. Something hosted by someone else can be gone the next day.

  • http://twitter.com/ilovegrover Thane_Eichenauer

    I have moved to RSSOwl which is available on Windows, Linux and OS X. After a couple of hours I am getting comfortable with it.

  • Shotgunner

    OK, so a couple days now of Feedly. I am underwhelmed. It's glitchy on my DroidX2. When a video is present in the feed the entire feed goes haywire with a bizarre size changing window inside the still visible original window and navigation is all but lost.

    I also downloaded gReader. I like it and will use it IF they can sort out how to operate after google flips the switch.

    It appears all of these feed readers are simply putting their own template over googles reader. They all seem to sync with google and not go get the feeds on their own. They all have a problem.

    I signed up for smahing reader as recommended by the developer below. Why not?

  • http://profiles.google.com/bigtkirk Tom Kirkendall

    One of the advantages of Feedly is that it has a web browser in addition to its phone and tablet apps in which you can input a feed directly to it. You are correct that Feedly and the others also sync with Google, but it's my understanding that Feedly is going to take over the Google Reader API from Google.

    gReader is a good mobile reader app for phones and tablets, but has no web browser version. I prefer Feedly because I can read it at the computer, on my phone and on my tablet.

  • http://www.facebook.com/maxlybbert Max Lybbert

    I haven't had a chance to try them,yet (although that is starting soon), but here's a good list: http://ginicharts.com/google-reader-alternatives .

  • Ellen Paul

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