I think I can’t stay away from this weeks hottest news:
Google Reader is shutting down July 2013
And, especially considering that
- The Bookworms are on a WP blog, which means we need people to subscribe to our feed since GFC is not working for us and
- I subscribed to tons of blogs and feeds and Reading Blogs and of course, I do not want to lose any blog I subscribed to!
Yep it’s true, another Google Product being abandoned after GFC was discontinued for all WP blogs and the big debate about Feedburner.. I’m a little tired of them abandoning such applications which is important for so many websites and blogs!
So, what does that means for you?
First, Don’t panic! You just have to find another way to read your Blogs.
And you know what? There are so much better alternatives out there than Google Reader ever was!
To be on the save side, you should first save the data from your Google Reader – meaning all subscriptions you ever made. This might not be necessary, but .. better save than sorry!
Here I found a step by step guide how to save your subscriptions:
- Go to the Google Reader Takeout page.
- Click the ‘Create Archive’ button at the bottom of the page, and let Google organize and prepare you archive for download.
- Click the ‘Download’ button.
- Verify your Google account details.
- Download the .ZIP file to a location of your choice on your PC.
- If you haven’t already done so, install a tool capable of opening .ZIP files such as WinZip or WinRAR on your PC.
- Now open the Reader archive you downloaded from Google with one of the tools mentioned in the previous point.
- Extract the files to a folder in an easy to locate spot like your Desktop. Source: Thinkdigid
But, this is just for safety – most of the new options let you import your data directly!
Today, I’d like to know how you are reading blogs and show you what I found to be the most exciting apps! Upfront, I have to say that I am a fairly visual person – I love things to look pretty!
Feedly
Feedly is free and offers a super pretty and unique dashboard where people who previously read in Google Reader will find themselves homey. I also has some mobile apps for all platforms and I’m actually using it for my iPhone. Personally, this is what I will end up using as it is super pretty! I tried it out and felt instantly at home. It offers everything I’m looking for!
See below my dashboard (click to enlarge), you can choose between a magazine style, Titles style, Mosaic Style and more. Basically there is a display for everyone and I’m sure each and every one will find their preferred style
Mobile: Yes, Feedly does also excites as both an iPhone and iPad app!
BlogLovin
Actually, I was surprised when I got a few new subscriptions today. Then , I realized that BlogLovin changed and let you import your Blog Subscriptions! This is awesome! The dashboard is nice has a clean look and easy to read feed after feed. This definitely is my second favorite app.
Also a big plus is that you can log in with your Facebook Account, which makes it even easier to sign up!
You can click on the icon to Follow the Bookworms on BlogLovin:
Mobile: Yes, BlogLovin does also exits as both an iPhone app!
Pulse Me
this one has also a very graphical overview, which is something I like very much! You can also import your subscriptions to Pulse Me. Personally, not my favorite …
Mobile: Yes, Pulse Me does also exits as both an iPhone app!
The Old Reader
The Old Reader looks similar to Google Reader and lets you import subscriptions as well. I haven’t tried this one.
Reeder
This is a paid app from iTunes but it’s a really great way to read and follow blogs! The only problem I have is commenting, sometimes it doesn’t work and comments are not saved. Of course this takes away a little of the fun! But, I’m sure they are improving this issue!
It’s $7.99 for the desktop App ($4.99 for iPad app and $2.99 for iPhone)
I have it for my MacBook and iPad and really love it!
Warning: Right now, it won’t work when GoogleReader shuts down, but since this is a paid app used my Thousands of Users I am absolutely sure they will find a solution!
Wordpress Reader
Using the WordPress Reader off course means having a WP account. But, it’s not too bad having one if you ask me 🙂 To be honest, I didn’t know this application exits but, I will definitely try it out! What is important for us right now, is that you can also import your subscriptions!
So it’s worth a try!
For me a big disadvantage is that I won’t have a chance to customize the dashboard… But, it’s free and worth a try!
So yes there are tons of alternatives and I just touched a few right now. I’m sure more are popping up, but I personally will go with Feedly, as it’s pretty, clean, organized and exactly what I’m looking for!
Now, I want to hear from you.
How do you read Feeds, what are you using right now? And… now that Google Reader will be shut down, which new app will you try out for you? Feedly? BlogLovin?
Or, is there a Reader you love so much and I haven’t mentioned? I’d love to hear this and try it out!
Much Love,
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Well, I founds out about this like 2 days ago and was really pissed, since I use the blogger/google reader a lot for subscribing to blogs and all that’s gonna be gone?! I found out about Feedly from Parajunkee and Oooooohhh! I think I may have found a blog reader for all my blogs I subscribed to that I like more than blogger/google reader! Yah!
I mean I really like Feedly. I admit I wanted to bang my head on my desk at first, b/c it was kinds hard to get used to and figure out the first hour messing with it, but you can customize it the way you want and I just love it. 🙂
Mariya @ Mystifying Paranormal Reviews recently posted..Review: Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
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I quickly eliminated Feedly as an option because it is only in app form. I don’t want to download something to look at things on my computer. If I wanted a separate program, I’d just use my email client (most of which have news reader capabilities).
I just moved my feed to Bloglines and I’m liking it so far. Functions much the same as Google Reader, but when new posts come in, it gives you a message that there are new posts and easy refreshing. Now I just need to see if they have an app for my phone.
sawcat recently posted..Snapshot Saturday- Stitchery
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I’m quite sure you can now view Feedly online without having to download an extension, can someone confirm this?
Angelica @ Paperback Princess recently posted..Sunday Post #5
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*cries* I’m just not sure what to use! I hate that Google is shutting this down — totally bums me out. Come on, Google. Stop shutting stuff down! I’ve heard good things about feedly but I want something similar to iGoogle (which they’re also shutting down), where I can quickly click through the posts, read the ones I want and then go to the posts I want to comment on. It’d be great if I didn’t have to download anything, too, because I read on multiple computers & devices. BLURG!!!
Let me know what you end up with!
Mary @ BookSwarm recently posted..Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop (March 15-22, 2013)!
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You should have a look at Bloglines. Its free and website based, so if the device has a web browser, you can use it. I’m not seeing an official app in the Google Play store. I do the same thing, and most seem to be app based.
sawcat recently posted..Snapshot Saturday- Stitchery
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Ever since I left blogger, I haven’t really used Google Reader – I want to be able to read all my blogs in one place and since I wasn’t going to be on my google homepage that much, I was looking for alternatives. Now, I use Vienna – an opensource RSS reader for Macs, and I think it’s great! It’s very easy to set up new subscriptions and I can sort them however I like. It’s got a flagging system that’s great for collecting links for my weekly round-up posts (and for posts that I want to remember to do something about). AND it acts like a browser if you want to write a comment or just see the page as it would be on the site (though I had trouble getting it save my logins so I’ve set it to just automatically use my default browser instead. That’s just a minor nuisance, though, easily circumvented)
That said, I’m always curious about new apps – I’ll definitely check these out 🙂
Anne recently posted..Discussion Day: Schedule or wing it?
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I transferred all my subscriptions to BlogLovin. It seems to be pretty easy to use. I started my blog right after they did away with GFC. 🙁 It’s crazy that Google is shutting down so many of their products.
Jenea @ Books Live Forever
Jenea @ Books Live Forever recently posted..Upcoming New Releases for the week of March 18th
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Thanks for the great post. I’d heard the news, but had no idea my options. Groan, just one more thing to add to my list of things to do. 🙁
Stina LIndenblatt recently posted..The Big Scene Payoff
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Thanks for sharing this informative post! I may go with blogluvin but will look at all the options before deciding 100%.
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I’m going to check out Feedly and Blog Loving. I hate that they are shutting down the reader 🙁 and I’m not sure what the consequences are.. but I guess we will find out soon. Thanks for listing these options!
Mel@thedailyprophecy recently posted..Review 139. Sarah Zettel – Dust girl.
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So far I’ve signed up/played around with both Bloglovin’ and Feedly, and I like them both. One thing I love about Bloglovin’ is that views from there count as page views for the blog. I think that’s fantastic. Not sure if Feedly is the same. Bloglovin’ also lets you comment without leaving the reader, which is something I always wished Google Reader did. I also got a great first impression of Bloglovin’s customer service – when Ii first signed up I couldn’t figure out how to sort the blogs I follow into groups. I reached out to customer service and there was a reply in my inbox within minutes! I’m still exploring both options but as of now I think I’m leaning toward Bloglovin’.
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I started using Bloglovin, and I really like it!! I’m also sharing a link to this on my blog later today for others who need a new reader. 🙂
Kelsey recently posted..Review: First Visions by Heather Topham Wood
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[…] Bewtiched Bookworms-Discussed! Google Reader gone.. and now what? […]
I’m really upset about Google Reader going down too– so much that I actually freaked out and started frantically researching how to track feed subscribers without it. I was unsuccessful. Does anyone know how to do that? On another note, I actually found an article about putting GFC on WordPress the other day!! It appears to work, but I’m not sure if it follows into blogger. I’ve been thinking of switching to WordPress, but I’m not sure about the move yet. Thank you for all the feed options! (:
Megan@The Book Babe recently posted..If We Kiss by Rachel Vail
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Danny I’m so glad you made a post about this. I’m a big advocate of Google as I use Gmail, Blogger and even Google Calendar, but I’m starting to get very sick of the way they just abandon things without thought to all the users they’ve accumulated during that time, I feel like they really have no loyalty to those customers that support them.
I’m thinking of changing all my Google products over so I don’t get stuck in a predicament if/when Google decides to shut down another one of their apps 🙁
Does anyone know how much it’ll cost to migrate my blog from Blogger to WP including my web design?
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I’ve been playing with Feedly for a couple of days, and I think I’m going to like it. I’m confused about Reeder for iPad. That’s what I’ve been using, but so far I haven’t seen anything about them switching to a new feed. I thought it was only for the Google Reader feed. I hope they will figure out how to make it work without Google. Let me know if you hear anything from Reeder.
Annette recently posted..Stacking the Shelves: More eBooks!
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Great post! I’m definitely hovering more towards Feedly, but I do like that I can comment on blogs within the Bloglovin’ frame. The only downside to Bloglovin’ is that it doesn’t have an app for the iPad — I love that Feedly has that. But, I think these are my top two right now. Now I need to make a decision!
Kristilyn (Reading In Winter) recently posted..READ-ALONG: Under the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky Q&A)
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[…] Danny outlines a LOT of different options, as well as instructions for exporting your subscriptions from Google Reader. […]
I’m currently using Feedly, which is alright. Need time to get used to it though.
Dazzling Mage recently posted..Review: The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead
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I currently use Feed Demon – It let me import all of my feeds in right from googlereader. However I didn’t find a ipad app so I think I’m going to give Feedly a try since you said it has an ipad app. I hope its free cause I so don’t want to pay haha.
Pabkins @ My Shelf Confessions
pabkins recently posted..Review: Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop
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Oh by the way I love feed demon for the most part. Though sometimes the raffleccopters and comments boxes don’t seem to work right – other than that its great.
pabkins recently posted..Review: Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop
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Awesome post Danny. I have a Blogger Tips and Tricks post scheduled for next Saturday and personally recommended Feedly after testing them all out. You should have seen my hubs face when he came home and I said uninstall all these *he is a computer geek*. He’s like why the hell did you install all of these? And say to test them *bats eyes and attempts to look cute* gah..the things I do for my peeps
kimbacaffeinate recently posted..Coffee Pot Reviews: Waking Up Married and Savage Angel
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Another Google prodcut bites the dust. No surprise there. I am waiting for them to unhook GFC for the rest of the blogs and everything else. After GFC unplugged last year from my blog I swore i would not use any more google products. I am just waiting for Feedburner to go. I abosulutely refuse to use their google plus and anything else because there is no guarantese it will stay. Very frustrating for sure. I still have my gmail account and I would have unhooked it if I hadn’t had it for so long. Google is slowly losing face. Thanks for all the recommendations!
Heidi recently posted..Real Mermaids Don’t Need High Heels (Real Mermaids #3) by Helene Boudreau: Interview and Giveaway
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I was bummed when I heard the news. But it looks like there’s a lot of good options out there that will end up being better in the long run anyway. I’ll have to do some looking around to see which one will end up being a good fit for me. Thanks for sharing. This is a great resource!
Janeal Falor recently posted..Lazy Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese (With Bacon!)
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Thank you sooo much for this information.. I adore these types of posts im a relatively new blogger and need all the help i can get!! I greatly enjoy your website 🙂
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For the time being, I’m using both Feedly and Bloglovin, and I wasn’t aware that it was possible to have an iPhone app for Bloglovin’, so thank you for that.
i wonder what this will mean for Google in the end, though, if we go somewhere else for our RSS feeds, we might as well go somewhere else for other things as well, no?
Lexxie recently posted..GFC for WordPress – tutorial and links
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I’ve been using Feedly for a while on my iPhone and iPad. But for my Mac, I bought an App called News Bar. I really like it because it sits on the right side of the screen. I think you can even have it so it’ll sit transparently over your other windows. As it updates, you can see new blog posts come in. I really love it!
Steph Sinclair recently posted..Hot New Titles: 17th March 2013
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I was just thinking about this yesterday. Thanks for the suggestions. I will have to check them out. Feedly looks really good.
I’m also contemplating moving my blogs from Bloggers because I’m afraid Google will abandon those next.
Andrea recently posted..Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #5)
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[…] Bookworms is also endorsing Feedly, but has a bunch of other options for you to consider in Discussed! Google Reader gone.. and now what? Rachelia from Bookish Comforts pitted desktop readers versus their web counterparts in Google […]
I was bummed about Google Reader. I’ve tried a few different readers and Feedly and Bloglovin’ were graphics heavy for me. I don’t want a pretty reader. I follow about 160 blogs and I want to be able to see the post and move on using my spacebar like in Google Reader. I’ve found 2 readers I like:
bazqux.com – looks like Google Reader + you can see comments. They do ask for a subscription fee of $9, 19, or 29 /year
inoreader.com – I think I may choose this one. Looks and feels like Google Reader, so learning curve is less. I’ll be playing with it today.
AH@badassbookreviews recently posted..Review: Sins & Needles (The Artists Trilogy #1) by Karina Halle
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[…] (Once Upon a Time) and Danny (Bewitched Bookworms) both talked about what to do now that Google Reader is going away. I ditched Google Reader a while […]