• Feedly is in the lead so far

    March 18, 2013 / No Comments

    So over the weekend I played with a few different RSS readers, and so far Feedly is winning. I couldn’t try Newsblur because they closed their free accounts. While I’m more than happy to pay for an RSS reader, I need to know if it’s the right one before I’m willing to pay. I was also unable to try The Old Reader because of their long import queue. My OPML file was also too big for them to import all my feed. That was also a turnoff.

    I hated Feedly’s look when I first tried it, but I was able to customize it quite a bit too make it “less pretty” and more useful. When it comes to RSS readers pretty usually just gets in the way. I just want the articles, and I want to be able to browse them fast. Feedly uses the same keyboard short cuts that Google Reader uses, and that’s a must for a reader for me. I was able to get through my feeds almost as fast as I could with Google Reader. They still have a few UI problems, but I have a feeling Feedly will figure it out. I think they understand this is a huge opportunity for them. Right now they are still using the Google backend, but they say they have their own clone of it that they are ready to use once Google Reader closes down.

    On thing they must add for me to make the switch is a way to export my OPML. I’m sure they will add one, they aren’t stupid. They probably don’t have one now because they are using Google’s backend. A way to export my feeds is an absolute must.

    The one thing I’m worried about is their iOS app. Once again they made it pretty, and I don’t want pretty. My iOS reader of choice is Feeddler. It’s fast and full of export options. I can quickly run through my feeds sending some to Instapaper, Evernote, Readability, Pocket, Pinboard, or where ever want to handle posts that I’m interested in.

    I’m hoping that Feedly understands that there are many different kind of reader apps, and everybody has their favorites and they allow third party apps to run on their backend like Google did. I believe it would be huge if they do that. The feed reader service that becomes the backend for all the great mobile reader apps will be the winner.

    Feedly is in the lead now, but I’m curious what Digg is going to do. they said they are working on a reader too. I’m pretty excited about the future of RSS readers. Somebody is going to be innovative and blow Google Reader out of the water, and make us wonder why we loved it so much. Who is that going to be?

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  • Goodbye Google Reader

    March 13, 2013 / No Comments

    So Google has announced that they are shutting down Google Reader in July. We will see if that really happens after the huge backlash of complaints. I love Google Reader and live in it all day long, either in my browser, or via an app on my mobile devices. It’s a service that I would totally pay for. That being said, Google’s monopoly on feed readers has really caused Google Reader to be quite stagnate. I don’t remember the last useful feature added to Reader.

    Maybe it’s true that less and less people are using RSS, but I still think lots of people are still using it. Some people are replacing feed readers with Twitter and Flipboard. While I love Twitter and Flipboard, I don’t think they could ever replace my feed reader. I’m too OCD and worried about missing something. I never miss anything with feed readers.

    If Google does shut down reader I will be lost for a while, but I’m sure a good replacement will surface. Someone just needs to write a nice online feed reader that’s clean, has plenty of sharing options, and syncs with current iOS app and I’m sold.

    I’ve been reading my RSS feeds long before Google Reader, and will continue long after. RSS is not dead. I remember when I first started reading RSS feeds. I started reading them on a desktop app. I don’t even remember which one it was, but I went through a couple different ones. I was actually reluctant to switch to an online reader at first. I didn’t want to be dependent on a website. Now I couldn’t imagine not using an online feed reader. I learned to love NewsGator. Then eventually switched to Bloglines, and then to Google Reader. What’s next?

    While I’m bummed to see Google Reader go, but I’m excited to see what the future of RSS readers has in store. Is there even a current competitor to Google Reader? If so let me know. I’m sure the code monkeys are already at work to have many competitor before July.

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