I don't have a FB account, nor do I really hang on Twitter or Google+ despite having accounts there. No, my favourite social media is Pinterest and blogs. I subscribe to a huge number of blogs. Some because I enjoy reading them or look at the pictures, other beacuse they're great resources for my other blog. All in all, I like the free format blogs offer compared to, say, Twitter which is all about short sentences and no pics. Well, there are attached pics of cause, but no immediate visual appeal like with blogs and Pinterest. I might be old-fashioned, not wanting to be on places like Facebook and just focusing on blogs.
Daily, I depend on Google Reader, a free online feed reader, to keep up with the flow of blog posts and articles (it's not just blogs that have rss feeds). But now Google have decided to shut down their feed reader. Missed the news, but when logging on today there was a box saying Reader is to be closed down in July and would I like to learn more.
What to do? One can still hope they change their minds as I like the reader. But it's not likely, is it? It's business and business doesn't care about how I feel. Instead I need to find an alternative. A free, online rss feed reader. One that's easy to use and that I can rely on. Reliability is very important. Finding Google Reader via my Blogger dashboard, I never looked at the alternatives when starting to follow blogs so I have no idea what alternatives there are out there.
Perhaps I'll find a fab reader by summer (when Google Reader close down) and forget about ever using Google Reader, but right now it just feels like a huge task to find an alternative to rely on and then getting used to. And to move all my blog feeds to. I'm already feeling stressed, worrying that I'm going to lose blogs when moving to a new reader.
So... Anyone out there have a recommendation for another reader, a good place to go to instead of Google? I want a simple, easy-to-use reader that doesn't require having to download a software as I'm mostly using either my parents' computer or, on rare occasions, a laptop and can't install whatever I want (not that they'd notice, but still: I want an online service). And it needs to be free as I'm still poor. If it's easy to import all my blog feeds from Google Reader to the new service it'd be even better.
I'm trying out FeedDemon - you can import all your Google Reader info. I can't believe Google is shutting it's reader down :(
ReplyDeleteIsn't the loss of Reader traumatic? I think I've found a replacement if Feedly; you can even move all your Reader feeds over without going through the import/export process. (I recommend changing the look in your Preferences from "Magazine" to "Full Article." It feels more Reader-y that way.) It's at feedly.com.
ReplyDeleteI am in the exact same boat... I will have to take a look at FeedDemon and feedly
ReplyDeleteJust read that Feed Demon is shutting down as well:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/031413-feeddemon-to-shut-down-but-267699.html
I sure hope someone comes up with something comparable. I know a lot of people are upset about losing both of these readers. I sure am!
Hi I am just a little confused, so it is just Google Reader that is shutting down and not Blogger. I do not use Google Reader I have always just went to my dashboard and read from there. I am I still going to be able to go to my dashboard and read the blogs I follow? If not then I guess I need to be on the look out for a reader.
ReplyDeleteTherese
From what I understand it only affects Google Reader, not the list on the dashboard at Blogger. The two are related -- all the blogs you have on the dashboard can also be read in Google Reader -- but not the same (e.g. you can add blogs to the reader that doesn't show up on Blogger).
DeleteAt least the info doesn't say anything about the Blogger dashboard list of blogs. But I'm not 100 % sure as I don't really use that feature myself. And the way Google cuts down on service after service, who knows what is next to go?
It's nice to know I'm not the only one upset about this. Nor the only one trying to find an alternative.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestions, Elisa and Melissa! I saw that Pearl of Beading Gem's Journal also had a few suggestions, which included Feedly. And someone mentioned Bloglovin. Will be checking out Feedly a bit more as they seem to be recommended here and there.
I'll miss the Reader too. They'll be closing down due to too few users. Well, maybe they'll change their mind, if they get more users. That could happen, if we users manage to find at least one more active user each. Milka
ReplyDeleteSadly, I'm not sure it'll work. As the long sunset period means there's time for them to change, but it's most likely a decision made some time ago and less users is just part of the reasoning behind closing down (they've also claimed to having made this decision inorder not to "spread themselves too thin"). After all, they close down Picnik and that was popular. They created or bought a lot of services and now they're closing them down one by one...
DeleteAnd by now, many users have probably already found somewhere else to go -- though, there are still those who fight and have created a petition in order to make Google change their mind.
I use bloglovin and really have had no issues with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! I know there are people who've followed my other blog for years using it, but it still slipped my mind so thanks for the reminder and recommendation.
DeleteI've started to use bloglovin and love it so easy to use and sort blogs and import list from google
ReplyDelete