Google Reader Buh-Bye
If you log into Google Reader you will get the error message that Google Reader will be unavailable after July 1st. Checking your calendar you might see that date is fast approaching! Since Google announced it was killing off Reader there have been numerous articles about how to replace it with a different RSS feed reader.
And in nearly every article there was a major complaint about every single alternative: none managed to replicate the simplicity and minimalism of Reader’s (old) interface while replicating the experience across platforms.
One of the main suggestions made was to use Feedly. Feedly offered the advantage of importing Google Reader feeds, interacting with ‘starred’ items, and working across Mac, PC, iOS and Android platforms. Oh yeah, and it offered a clear path to not depending on Google Reader!
But when I tried out Feedly it reminded me of why I never switched to Reeder or any of the other ‘Reader alternatives’ – the feed display was too complex and ‘bulky’. What I wanted was to replicate the user experience I’d had with Google Reader for 9 years.
Feedly heard the complaints – and (slowly) responded. They built a simplified optional interface for their web extension, then added it to the iPad and iPhone and then to Android. Pretty quickly I had all of my devices streamlined and looking like the image below:
Feedly Ready to Go
As noted Feedly planned to migrate from Google Reader to their own RSS database solution, called ‘The Feedly Cloud’. Here is a Feedly blog entry to help you with the migration!
In more big news the company today announced that the Feedly Cloud is available for all users, and that a number of apps have plugged into the Feedly Cloud. So if you were a Newsify fan (like I was) you can now use it with the Feedly Cloud.
Finally, they have introduced Feedly as a pure web app – no more extension required. Simply head to http://cloud.feedly.com/ and you should be all set … well, depending on browser limitations and internet restrictions. For example, I get a blank screen on my work computer, which runs Internet Explorer 8 – but I assume it is just blocked on our network.
So I am thrilled – I have a great RSS reader than brought in all of my Google Reader stuff and has kept up for the last few months as I have made changes in feeds and settings. And it looks and behaves the same – and remembers settings – on my Mac and PC as well as iPhone and iPad and Android.
What are your plans as Google Reader moves towards shutdown in just over a week? If you haven’t tried it yet, definitely check out Feedly!
I ended up switching to RSSOwl and using Dropbox to make it available in multiple locations. I simply don’t trust Feedly. During the migration, they lost about a quarter of my unread and starred items. Thankfully they didn’t get passed onto GReader (because of the disconnect), so when I do one last download before lights out I’ll have them back. If something goes bad with RSSOwl, I’ll have nobody but myself to blame.
I grumbled (a lot) about Feedly at first, but they’re rapidly becoming my best bet for now. NextGen reader on Windows Phone uses Feedly now, and it just seems cleaner and easier to sync via feedly and keep my ipad and lumia in sync.