Google Reader is in my daily routine. When I turn on my PC, it's the first website that I open. Discover, suddenly, that in July it's going to disappear, was a shock for me.
Its sudden demise left a big space for new, innovative products, here are the alternatives:
Feedly
Feedly it's nice and free.
Pro:
- They plan to be compatible with Google Reader application programming interfaces, so existing apps can support it with a trivial updateo.
- They make money with a small ad in the right sidebar in the home page, it's almost invisible.
- It imports feeds and starred items from Google Reader, creating your account with just one click.
- Can be customized in a lot of styles.
- You can find new blogs to follow.
- Did I mention that it's free?
- App for Android/iPhone
Cons:
- You must install an app or browser extension to use it. (That means it works only with Firefox, Safari, iPhone, Android)
- It's based on Google App Engine, that means that if they have a lot of users, they have a lot of expenses. Will the money coming from the very small ad in the home page be enough to pay bills?
Newsblur
It's an impressive one-man job, Newsblur looks like it's a perfect alternative:
- Open Source
- Programming interfaces for building mobile applications
- Suggests new content
- Browser based: you don't need to install an app or an extension
- Ad-free
- App for Android/iPhone
But, it has a fatal flaw: it's not free, and it's understandable, having no other ways to pay bills, but I don't like the behaviour of the developer. Instead of showing a sign "we are managing a horde of new Google Reader users and our servers are busy, try again later", he practically disabled the free version (max 12 sites to follow) and doubled the monthly fee. He says that when things are stabilized, prices will be back to normal points, but I hate this way to greet new users. If you don't pay, you can't import your items from Google Reader, that means you have to pay and subscribe first, then try.
The Old Reader
Then, there is also The Old Reader, but, when I tried two days ago, they required too many authorizations when I connected my Google account. Why they want complete access to my contacts?
If I try again, they don't ask it anymore, maybe it was a temporary configuration erro, but for now I don't want to try again, because they don't offer smartphone apps.
I might try again after some weeks/months, when a smartphone app is available.