Posted by Dr-Pete

This post is a bit of an experiment, but I’ll get to that in a minute. As you probably know, Google Reader will be shutting down on July 1st. Like many people, I still use RSS to get information from trusted sources, and I’m looking for alternatives. So, I’m going to try a new RSS reader each week and write about my experiences here. I’ll be writing the post as I go, updating it every Thursday, so that I can get alternatives into your hands as I test them. See the list below for quick-links to finished reviews.

1. Feedly (5 / 5 / 4)
2. The Old Reader (3 / 4 / 4) â€“ NEW!

Get Your Data Out Now!

First things first – don’t find yourself on July 2nd realizing that Google Reader is gone and you have to completely recreate your entire list of feeds. Here’s what you do – open Google Reader and click on the gear icon in the upper-right. Select “Reader Settingsâ€� and you’ll see a screen like this:

Click on the “Import/Export� tab, and you’ll see “Export your information� at the bottom. That link takes you to Google Takeout, which allows you to download your data from Google products. You could also just jump straight to Takeout. You’ll need to log in with your Google account. Once you’re logged in, click on the “Choose services� tab (to just download Reader data):

Select “Reader� from your list, and you’ll see something like this:

Click on “Create Archive� and then be prepared to wait a couple of minutes. You can opt to have Google email you when they’re done. Eventually, you’ll see this:

Don’t forget to click “Download�, or you’re going to be really sad later. You’ll get back a zipped archive with more data than you really need, but drill down until you find a file called “subscriptions.xml� – that’s the one you’ll need later to import into other readers. Some import automatically, but that option may not be available after July 1st, so I highly recommend backing up your data while you still can.

Week 1 – Feedly (www.feedly.com)

FEATURES:
USABILITY:
IMPORTING:

I almost regret starting with Feedly, because it’s honestly such a good tool that I’m not sure I want to try much else. Feedly isn’t technically a web-based app, but it integrates with Chrome and Firefox and has apps for iOS, Android, and Kindle. I’m using the Chrome version, which has all the bells and whistles. Feedly defaults to a “Today� page, which is pretty handy:

I’m old and easily frightened, so I can be a bit squeamish about too many new features, but it doesn’t take much time at all to figure out Feedly, and it’s easy to default to a more familiar view and dive right into your own feeds:

The giant “Mark as readâ€� button may be one of my favorite features of Feedly, and the category-based view will be very familiar to anyone used to Google Reader. The Chrome version of Feedly also installs an extension to allow you to easily save or share any page for later. It appears as an icon in the lower-right, which expands into a full-featured toolbar (I’ve added the text labels):

Importing data from Google Reader into Feedly is basically automatic (no export/import required). The only reason I marked Feedly down is that currently they connect directly to the Google Reader API. Once the API goes away, it’s unclear how people will migrate. Feedly has made it clear that they are building their own data back-end, and hopefully there will be no service interruption. That uncertainty is the only question mark on an otherwise impressive and easy-to-use offering.

Week 2 – The Old Reader (theoldreader.com)

FEATURES: 
USABILITY: 
IMPORTING: 

The Old Reader attempts to be exactly that – a return to the soon-to-be good-old-days of Google Reader. To be fair, The Old Reader does have a unique style and a few usability tweaks, but it is clearly designed for people who want a simpler, less flashy interface for their RSS feeds. The Old Reader defaults to a summary screen, like this one:

The home page gives you easy access to your categories, a few recent posts, a short list of recently updated feeds, and a list of dead feeds. In many cases, my “dead” feeds were really feeds which had moved, but the quick reminder makes clean-up easy. One complaint I’ve always had about Google Reader is that it can be very difficult to monitor and remove old feeds. The Old Reader makes feed management a bit easier, and in some ways feels more user-friendly than Google Reader. From the home page, it’s just a couple of clicks to the more familiar feed list:

The Old Reader uses a straight file-based (OPML) import, which was simple enough. I did have some issues post-import with feeds doubling up, but that may have been a problem with the feeds themselves (and this happens on occasion in all RSS readers). Speed was also a small problem – some screen transitions and updates seemed to take a while. This had a slight negative impact on usability.

All in all, The Old Reader is a solid alternative for people who want basic functionality similar to what they’re used to in Google Reader and aren’t looking for a lot of bells and whistles. The Transition to The Old Reader is relatively painless if you’re not looking for a big change.

Week 3 – NewsBlur (www.newsblur.com/)

This review will be available on Thursday, June 13th.

Week 4 – Netvibes (www.netvibes.com)

This review will be available on Thursday, June 20th.

Week 5 – Pulse (www.pulse.me)

This review will be available on Thursday, June 27th.

Week 6 – Taptu (www.taptu.com)

This review will be available on Wednesday, July 3rd.

Week 7 – RSSOwl (www.rssowl.org)

This review will be available on Thursday, July 11th.

Week 8 – Feedbin (feedbin.me)

This review will be available on Thursday, July 18th.

Week 9 – CommaFeed (www.commafeed.com)

This review will be available on Thursday, July 25th.

Week 10 – Curata Reader (www.curata.com)

This review will be available on Thursday, August 1st.

Week 11 – FeedReader (feedreader.com)

This review will be available on Thursday, August 8th.

The Experiment Continues…

I’ll be giving each tool a full week before I review it and will update this post every Thursday until I’m done. I know the format is a bit unusual, so if you love it or hate it, let me know. If your favorite RSS reader or alternative is missing, be sure to tell us about it in the comments.

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