Goodbye Google Reader

It's time to bid farewell to Google Reader. If you haven't found a replacement yet, you have less than 8 hours to do so. In some ways it's a relief. I get to bid adieu to the unread feed counts, and I'm taking this opportunity to stop following some of the feeds that were just collecting a large unread count. As I couldn't decide what basket I wanted to put my RSS eggs into, I've chosen to give myself options. I expect each of them to evolve their feature set offerings in the coming weeks as they vie for new users. Here are my picks so far:

  • Google Takeout - First I recommend you export your RSS feed in case you choose a service in the future that allows you to upload your current feed.
  • Flipboard - Flipboard claims if you log in to your Google Reader account from the app they will keep your feeds intact. I like the format of Flipboard for a leisurely evening pageturn of my web content. There's the added benefit of being able to curate my own magazine to share with friends. It also syncs across all of my iOS devices. Flipboard - iTunes
  • Reeder - Reeder for iOS and Mac isn't ready for the absence of Google Reader yet, but they promise to ship an update to the app after July 1 (that Google Takeout file might come in handy here). In the meantime, the iPhone version is only a couple of bucks, and the iPad version is free. I'm not sure why it is free or how long it will be. I'm brand spankin' new to Reeder, so I can't say yet if I like its UI or how it will turn out when they do update their app to become a stand-alone RSS reader. Is that what they intend for future development? I have no clue. Reeder - iTunes
  • Feedly - another option, and one that I think most most people are opting to use. It's free and a lot of people seem to like it. I just signed up so I could keep my options open. Feedly - iTunes
  • Newsify - it's an app that formats your RSS feeds to look like a newspaper. Newsify has partnered with Feedly and offeres another style variant to choose from. Newsify - iTunes

I would recommend porting your RSS feeds to as many viable options as you can until you determine what flavors suit your RSS preference. One other option I'm waiting to try is Mr Reader for iPad. It is supposed to synce with Feedly I think, so I might try it if I don't like Reeder tha much.

What are you planning to do after Google Reader is shuttered? RIP Google Reader.

Joshua RogersComment