Well sadly, the death of Google Reader is happening on July 1. That’s a week away. Sadness. Deep sadness. Myself like many of you use Google Reader to read your favorite blogs quickly and see who has a new post etc. Why Google wants to take it away is beyond my comprehension but they are. Nothing we can do about it but cry. I hate change but life must go on.
So what are the alternatives?
#1 – Feedly.
To me this is the most like Google Reader so far. It easily will import all of the blogs you follow now in Google Reader into their cloud-based reader. It took me a little bit to catch on (because I hate change) but I do like it now and there are several customizations you can make. Feedly would be my top replacement for Google Reader. You can add me to your Feedly reader here. But if I’m already in your google reader and you do the import, it should all transfer over. I think. I hope.
You can see here that it looks very similar to Google Reader.
Again, I’m still trying to get the hang of it. For some reason when I click on the post to read it and scroll through, it makes that post disappear. I like to be able to see all of the blog’s posts you know? I don’t want it to vanish after it’s read by me. If anyone knows how to fix that let me know.
#2 – Bloglovin’
This is another reader-type system that a lot of people have migrated to as well. I haven’t done much over there yet but last night I did also migrate my google reader subscriptions over there so I have that one to play around with as well. At least now I have 2 good systems to test around with and see which I like best. You can follow me on Bloglovin’ here:
Do you even use a reader? A lot of people just visit the actual website which is great but I do like to see what has been updated in my reader first, and then visit the website to pin, comment, etc. If you’ve already switched from Google Reader I’d love to know what you are using and how you like it.
xxoo,
Decorchick!
Let’s Connect!
Kendi says
Not sure if I totally understand what you mean when you say your posts disappear, but if you go to the “All” screen in Feedly, then click on the vertical “…” button in the upper right, then “show all posts”… Does that solve your problem? I’m liking Feedly overall but there are some really annoying issues. Most notably, the chronological sorting is all messed up if you don’t keep on top of reading each and every post, each and every day. And for whatever reason, The Inspired Room almost never loads when you click “visit website” (this is the only blog I’ve found that doesn’t work, and only in Feedly, so I don’t think it’s the blog’s problem). And I miss having the list of blogs on the main page where you can get a quick glimpse of who has new posts and read through one blog at a time easily. I know that’s possible in Feedly, but it’s not as easy/simple :(
Kendi says
However, I LOVE that Feedly opens websites within its app instead of opening up a new browser window every time… Even if it has no navigation capabilities (no back button, sigh).
Decorchick! says
Kendi, let’s say I am reading my feed. I personally like to just go to the index tab, see the list of all the blogs I follow, and choose which I want to read. So if I click mine, read a post, and go to the next one or whatever, the older first post is no longer there. Do you know how I can keep my entire list of ALL posts? It’s annoying me. Then one time I clicked the check mark that says mark feed as read, and then the entire blog doesn’t show up in my index anymore.
Kendi says
That sounds like the solution I presented would solve it :) Basically, you want to view all posts, not just the unread ones. I should have mentioned that I use the Android app on a tablet so your buttons may or may not be in the same spot, but if you go to the options drop-down (in my case it’s the “…” button in the upper right on the MAIN screen, not within a blog post), find the “show all posts” option and you should be good, despite my super long run-on sentences ;)
Sara says
I’ve been using The Old Reader for a month now and find it to be very, very similar to Google Reader.
Suesan says
I have tried all of them and both Bloglovin’ and Feedly annoyed me for one reason or the other. I stumbled upon The Old Reader and love it. It is the most similar to Google Reader from the start. It’s easy to use. The only problem I’ve found is that I have to add new blogs in Old Reader and not through a blog’s RSS link. I’m sure there is a way to do that, I’ve just been too impatient to figure it out.
Decorchick! says
Never heard of that will look into it!
Deb says
I seriously cried. Real tears. I’ve been using Newsify to keep up with all the blog feeds from google reader. Thankfully they’ve partnered with Feedly. I’ve never had the warm fuzzies over google or Feedly. I’m so happy I can continue on with no changes.
Funny how I live to switch my house around, redecorate, constantly ‘making it better’, but mess with my blog feeds, even one little change and I went into a panic.
Lauren @momhomeguide says
I have just started to use Bloglovin, and I like it so far. But I am going to miss Google Reader! You can find me at: http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6256619/momhomeguidecom
Gretchen says
I switched over to Bloglovin when I first heard about Google Reader going away. a few months ago. I love it now and don’t miss Google Reader at all (like I thought I would). :)
Jen Y says
I’ve switched to Feedly & I also imported to the Old Google Reader. I like Feedly the best between the two so far. I like to open the post in a new tab to read & you could do that with one click on Google Reader it takes two on Feedly plus you have to go back & close out the post or end up scrolling through all the opened posts. If Feedly would add a one click option for this I think I’d like it about as much as Google Reader.
As far as your posts disappearing..you can open the menu on th eleft & click on a specific blog. That will bring up all the old posts in the feeder for that specific blog. So if you know which blog to go to you can find old posts. I follow so many blogs that sometimes I forget which one I saw something on but I can remember around the day I saw it. With Google Reader I could scroll through all the posts for a certain date. Another thing to get used to.
I hate change as well. The only reason I can see they might be closing is I don’t see how they make any money off of the reader? There aren’t any ads?
Don’t worry – you were imported & I haven’t missed any of your posts!
SammaMichelle says
I’m with you…real tears have been cried several times. Why they want to take it away is beyond me. I’ve imported my feeds into several readers and for some reason, BlogLovin is just not getting it for me, like at all. Feedly is so winning so far but I’m still open to trying out other options. It’s just sadness but I tell you one thing, I will use google reader until they shut it off!!! :-)
Kendi says
I was doing that too, but now they don’t sync :'( So if you read a post in Google Reader, it’s still unread in Feedly whenever you decide to go back and use it.
Debra says
I feel like I’m the only one who uses Reeder, an ap from the ap store on a mac. I think it is $4.99.
Ashley says
I was SO SAD when I heard about Google Reader. Like, so sad. I’m convinced it’s part of some sort of awful ploy to make people use Google+ :) Anyway, I started using Feedly and I actually like it way more!
I think I know how to solve the problem you are having with it… even if you’ve read all the posts for a particular blog and it doesn’t show any new posts for that blog, you can still click on that blog title in the left index and it will show you all the old posts (they are just not highlighted because you’ve “read” them all). If the blog is not showing up on the index tab, just go to the category you have it in and click “15 more sources (or whatever number)” and it will show you the blogs that don’t have new posts.
I don’t know if I explained that well at all, but hopefully it makes sense. I do love Feedly so I hope you figure it out!
Emma says
Digg reader goes public on June 26 and it is an exact copy…like, to a T of google reader! That is what I’ll be migrating to!
Decorchick! says
Great will check it out!
Mary says
I’ve tried several and Pulse is my favorite. I would be lost without it. I’m commenting from the app now!
Kristi says
I have started using igHOME as a reader and to me it has the same look and feel as iGoogle.. so far so good!
Sarah says
I tried Feedly and BlogLovin when I heard about the change and settled on Feedly. I think the issue you are having with seeing only unread has to do with your settings – at the top of Feedly, look for what looks like a gear (next to a check mark) in the upper right and click on that. Toward the bottom of the pop up menu will be filters – if “Unread only” is checked, uncheck it and that should help. Tried to skim through all the comments to make sure this hadn’t been said but sorry if its a repeat.
Brenda says
Makes me sad that Feedly doesn’t have a feature to allow you to search within the reader. It says it is planned, but I need it NOW!
Rachel says
Oh, I hate it when Google gets rid of things like that. Why they want to axe Google Reader is beyond me. So many people use it and it’s so extremely useful! It’s not like Google Wave, where it was pretty cool but something you could live without.
Emma says
Coming back to tell you that I just downloaded the digg reader app to my iPhone and yes…after trying feedly, old reader, bloglovin, net vibes, and some other one…digg reader is my favorite!
Decorchick! says
About to download it now. I’m down to the wire. Sadness!!
Decorchick! says
Oh my gosh your’e right!! Yay!!
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