Google shutting down Google Reader 7/1/13

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Well that's a bummer. I've been using Reader every day since it launched.

Any recommendations for alternatives? Or is it back to NetNewsWire?

Gravey wrote:

Any recommendations for alternatives? Or is it back to NetNewsWire?

It's probably the google service that I've spent more actual time using over the years. Youtube might approach it.

I would think Reader is not that expensive for Google to maintain in relative terms to some of their other stuff. I suspect it might be getting shut down to try to somehow positively affect their ad delivery revenue on a lot of the websites you might not visit for every article that you see in Reader.

I'm hoping a viable alternative is out there. Because if not, I suspect I'll see less of the web on a regular basis.

Yup, exactly. Reader would be behind only Gmail in what I use the Web for. It's such a simple, straightforward, lightweight service. Check my feeds from the Web at home and at work. Check'em from an app on the bus. Easy.

Holy crap on a Popsicle stick, Batman!!

I always figured Reader would stay up forever, since it was a great way for Google to determine what sites people visit and read without looking for it every time through their search engine.

From your 126 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 11,442 items, clicked 265 items, starred 1 items, and emailed 0 items.
Since February 3, 2011 you have read a total of 300,000+ items.

https://www.google.com/reader/view/?...

I've used Reader since well before 2011. I think before that, my account was tied to a hotmail address.

Techbargains has my highest number of read items, because I just scroll through all the deals a few times a day from the headline view. 2380 read in the last 30 days.

Neat but my numbers are skewed because for the most part I use the middle mouse to open the item to read on the actual site. The only sites I read in the reader are ones blocked by the firewall at work (Shacknews and other gaming related ones).

Eezy_Bordone wrote:

Neat but my numbers are skewed because for the most part I use the middle mouse to open the item to read on the actual site. The only sites I read in the reader are ones blocked by the firewall at work (Shacknews and other gaming related ones).

I click through a lot, but those are generally read, too. I open in reader, see if it looks interesting, then click through to the sites on the ones I want to spend more time with.

MannishBoy wrote:
Eezy_Bordone wrote:

Neat but my numbers are skewed because for the most part I use the middle mouse to open the item to read on the actual site. The only sites I read in the reader are ones blocked by the firewall at work (Shacknews and other gaming related ones).

I click through a lot, but those are generally read, too. I open in reader, see if it looks interesting, then click through to the sites on the ones I want to spend more time with.

Or I send it to Pocket if it's a long article, and come back to those once I've done skimming/reading the rest the morning's news on the bus.

I've been using gReader Pro for the last couple of years and I'm completely in love with it.
I emailed the dev earlier today to ask what web-service he would be migrating to. He hasn't answered yet, but I'm sure he's thinking about it.

With lifehacker's recommendations, I looked at NetVibes and NewsBlur. Can't say I liked either.

Also, it seems NewBlur is down with all the traffic Google just sent their way.

Wow, just went over to giz; half their last publications are RSS alternatives.
I wonder if Google won't back peddle once they realize just how many people are affected by this.

From your 466 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 1,091 items, clicked 156 items, starred 5 items, and emailed 3 items.
Since November 18, 2006 you have read a total of 131,969 items.

That's nowhere close to the number of things that I've skimmed past without opening, since I use it in the show only headlines unless I click on it mode.

Well, I've expected that this day would come ever since they moved Reader to the dropdown menu. Doesn't mean that I'm happy about it.

There are some features I'd like to see in my next RSS reader, though...time to find a replacement.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

Holy crap on a Popsicle stick, Batman!!

I always figured Reader would stay up forever, since it was a great way for Google to determine what sites people visit and read without looking for it every time through their search engine.

I honestly don't understand their thinking. They're closing iGoogle, and losing having me use them as my starting point for every time I access the internet. Now they're closing down the site where I interact most with the internet (beyond a few web pages I visit on a regular basis).

It's like they don't even want to know me. Either that or they have some kind of INCREDIBLE change coming to G+ that's going to want to make me use it for something other than an occasional distraction.

I've checked Google Reader by habit about 30 times since I last posted here.

Edit: And added a new blog.

Bad news indeed...I suppose they can change their mind, but in case that doesn't happen, does anyone know if any of the other web based RSS feeds either carry over starred items, and more importantly, can I do mass "marked as read" the way reader did.. "Items Older Than a Day", "Items Older Than a Week".

Might as well start getting used to something different. I read a lot of my feeds now through Flipbook.. but that still pulls my google reader info.

I'm trying out 2 alternatives: theoldreader and feedly. I think while you can import feeds from file, both currently still kind of default to hooking up google reader via api access. Both are suffering some performance issues at times due to the influx of people looking for an alternative. When I got in, feedly was able to serve up my starred items as saved items whereas they seemed to be missing in theoldreader. Feedly promises to have a plan to seamlessly transition away from the google api. Also feedly has a decent (free) iphone app. Not so sure about the "mark as read" functionality in either...don't think either has that, but I don't think I ever used that in reader.

My instinct is to just keep checking Reader for new posts.

This sucks but at the same time I'm kinda with Marco Arment on this. I'm looking forward to innovation.

General Crespin wrote:

My instinct is to just keep checking Reader for new posts.

This sucks but at the same time I'm kinda with Marco Arment on this. I'm looking forward to innovation.

Agreed. In the long run, we are likely to get several good cross-platform solutions for feed reading due to the death of Google Reader.

Unfortunately, I think it's going to take some time. The Old Reader is committed to expanding their infrastructure, creating a new API and working with mobile app developers, but it's a part-time, unpaid gig for them, so I'm not sure that will happen in the next 3 months. It looks like Feedly is best positioned to be the next-best-thing with their Normandy API ready to go in July (or so they say), but their UI isn't quite what all of us Google Reader users are accustomed to.

EDIT: Actually, you can get the Feedly web app to pretty closely resemble default Google Reader. Set your default page to All, set View to Full Articles, and check both Filters (Unread Only & Oldest First). Just wish now that I could figure out how to do the same in the iOS app.

Since August 5, 2010 you have read a total of 119,776 items

:(

This is very sad. Reader is the most used thing on the web for me. I really can't believe they are shutting it down.

I will give Feedly a try since I use it on my iphone and it's been great. I really dont know how the chrome extention will work. This sucks

Edit: Well Feedly is just broken right now. Trying NewsBlur as well but it's really getting hammered.

Since October 17, 2005 you have read a total of 72,696 items.

Dumb move, Google. You've reduced the number of services I use of yours from 3 down to 1. (I still have GMail, but iGoogle and Reader will both be gone).

AndrewA wrote:
Since October 17, 2005 you have read a total of 72,696 items.

Dumb move, Google. You've reduced the number of services I use of yours from 3 down to 1. (I still have GMail, but iGoogle and Reader will both be gone).

I didn't even realize it reported that:

Since December 5, 2008 you have read a total of 300,000+ items.

I posted this in the other thread in "Everything Else", but the point of me sticking with Google Reader is the way I can view things in a simple, high level one line or one paragraph view, with minimal space taken up by images. Then I can pick what I want to read and drill down and maybe link out to the original content. I don't want a slow, magazine view where 50 percent of the view is images.

And I want to pick and choose what feed I look at. If I want to skim techbargains, I don't want it mixed in with Fatwallet, which I rarely read but keep the feed linked anyway. I don't want The Verge, Engadget, and Gizmodo combined in my tech gadget section, as I prioritize the first two over the third when I have limited time.

Flipboard and it's ilk are exactly 180 degrees off of my needs.

MannishBoy wrote:

I posted this in the other thread in "Everything Else", but the point of me sticking with Google Reader is the way I can view things in a simple, high level one line or one paragraph view, with minimal space taken up by images. Then I can pick what I want to read and drill down and maybe link out to the original content. I don't want a slow, magazine view where 50 percent of the view is images.

And I want to pick and choose what feed I look at. If I want to skim techbargains, I don't want it mixed in with Fatwallet, which I rarely read but keep the feed linked anyway. I don't want The Verge, Engadget, and Gizmodo combined in my tech gadget section, as I prioritize the first two over the third when I have limited time.

Flipboard and it's ilk are exactly 180 degrees off of my needs.

Read the Feedly blog post that TempestBlayze linked to. They offer advice on how to make Feedly resemble Google Reader. For the way you use it, if you set the Views preference to Titles it will be just as you described -- one line list of items.

Feedly Blog Post

Transitioning from Google Reader to feedly
Posted on March 14, 2013 by @feedly
Google announced today that they will be shutting down Google Reader. This is something we have been expecting for some time: We have been working on a project called Normandy which is a feedly clone of the Google Reader API – running on Google App Engine. When Google Reader shuts down, feedly will seamlessly transition to the Normandy back end. So if you are a Google Reader user and using feedly, you are covered: the transition will be seamless.

Update 22:24 PST: Bandwidth upgraded. New servers added. Welcome to all the new users.

Just got Feedly to load up and it's actually pretty good. I just put the homepage to "All" like listed above and it's fine. We will see how it is after a days use. I like the "Cards" looks in the preferences but I wish there was more text and less picture. Having the full article is too much since I am only interested in maybe 50% of the things that show up.

Feedly also has "older than a day" " older than a week" mark as read options.

B Dog wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

I posted this in the other thread in "Everything Else", but the point of me sticking with Google Reader is the way I can view things in a simple, high level one line or one paragraph view, with minimal space taken up by images. Then I can pick what I want to read and drill down and maybe link out to the original content. I don't want a slow, magazine view where 50 percent of the view is images.

And I want to pick and choose what feed I look at. If I want to skim techbargains, I don't want it mixed in with Fatwallet, which I rarely read but keep the feed linked anyway. I don't want The Verge, Engadget, and Gizmodo combined in my tech gadget section, as I prioritize the first two over the third when I have limited time.

Flipboard and it's ilk are exactly 180 degrees off of my needs.

Read the Feedly blog post that TempestBlayze linked to. They offer advice on how to make Feedly resemble Google Reader. For the way you use it, if you set the Views preference to Titles it will be just as you described -- one line list of items.

I'll have to play around with it, but most things I use the paragraph "expanded" view. Stuff like deal feeds, or sometimes on the phone or tablet I'll switch to the list view. I probably use 60/40. But rarely ever would I want the huge image magazine layout.

I'll obviously have to experiment with different options over the next months.

Been trying to figure out Feedly, but it's just as annoying as half the other RSS readers out there. The beauty of Reader was how simple it was. Very bad news.

maverickz wrote:

Been trying to figure out Feedly, but it's just as annoying as half the other RSS readers out there. The beauty of Reader was how simple it was. Very bad news.

If you're looking for simple, I'd suggest checking out The Old Reader. It's basically a Google Reader clone and looks/works the same.

They've seen their user base triple in the past 24 hours, so it may be a bit slow at the moment.

B Dog wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Been trying to figure out Feedly, but it's just as annoying as half the other RSS readers out there. The beauty of Reader was how simple it was. Very bad news.

If you're looking for simple, I'd suggest checking out The Old Reader. It's basically a Google Reader clone and looks/works the same.

They've seen their user base triple in the past 24 hours, so it may be a bit slow at the moment.

I don't really understand how the whole RSS and Reader integration works. Will The Old Reader work after Google Reader goes offline? Feedly made a big deal about seamless transition, will TOR provide a seamless transition? Is it available for Android?

maverickz wrote:
B Dog wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Been trying to figure out Feedly, but it's just as annoying as half the other RSS readers out there. The beauty of Reader was how simple it was. Very bad news.

If you're looking for simple, I'd suggest checking out The Old Reader. It's basically a Google Reader clone and looks/works the same.

They've seen their user base triple in the past 24 hours, so it may be a bit slow at the moment.

I don't really understand how the whole RSS and Reader integration works. Will The Old Reader work after Google Reader goes offline? Feedly made a big deal about seamless transition, will TOR provide a seamless transition? Is it available for Android?

My understanding is that The Old Reader is a stand-alone service. You can import your feeds from Google Reader, but it doesn't sync with Google Reader. So, once Reader shuts down on 7/1, TOR will be unaffected. With respect to mobile apps, The Old Reader devs have said that they will develop an API that allows mobile app developers to connect with TOR and that they may develop an app themselves, but there currently aren't any options.

Sigh, this was such an unncessary pain. What in the world was Google thinking. I had my system down pat. From my computer, to my tablet, to my phone. Everything was synced. "Oh, what's that? We have a system that works? Shut it down!"

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