BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER…
Wow! This post is getting a lot of hits (a lot for me, double digits on a daily basis). But did you know that there are two more posts in this series, part 2, and also the exciting conclusion! With screenshots!
Hey feeding buddies,
I’ve started running a side by side comparison of Google Reader, which I have been quite underwhelmed by in the past, and Bloglines which has been my old standby reader pretty much since I became a semi-regular web user and blogger.
Bloglines is my sentimental favorite but lately there’s been less love. It keeps freezing up and needing a manual refresh. And there’s the old problem that some posts from certain feeds don’t show up until they’re a few hours old. Most of the time, who cares about this? But occasionally I would appreciate a more timely turnaround, and bloglines hanging problem is getting more frequent and driving me up the wall.
Google reader has recently been thrown out of the Google Labs nest and is now making its way in the wild. My previous go-rounds with Greader have left me waving my hand dismissively as I clicked back over to Bloglines. It was unweidly, poorly organized, and most importantly gave me a hard time about importing my opml file (exported from bloglines, nach). Can you say ‘non starter?’ I think you can.
But now Greader looks like a contender. Which brings me to the point of my post. Here is what my pal Stephen might refer to as comment bait:
Have you tried either or both Bloglines and/or and what do you think? Do you know of other free, web based* readers that work great and you think I should check out?
Little help?
*Free and web based are essential ingredients. Do not expect your comment about the ‘inexpensive’ hard drive based feed reader you just love to survive (yes Will, this means you). If you want to extol its virtues you may do so on your own blog. Just sayin’.
19 comments
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October 1, 2007 at 1:35 pm
beth
I’m a Google Reader user myself. I tried to use Bloglines but found it…unwieldy. (Meaning, roughly, that I created an account and then couldn’t really figure out what I needed to do thereafter and didn’t feel like reading instructions because I didn’t think I should have to.) That said, I have had 0 problems with Google Reader, though I have been known to sit and hit refresh obsessively — that’s more because I’m bored than because it needs a goose.
As for feeds not showing up until they’re old, I have to say the biggest problem I’ve had with this is with Blogger feeds, and I suspect it’s an issue on Blogger’s end, not on the reader of choice.
October 1, 2007 at 1:48 pm
jvjannotti
Beth,
I’ve noticed that blogger is one of the culprits but it’s not exclusively a blogger problem. I’ve also noticed this “feature” with other blogs including one I won’t name but whose author’s first name rhymes with cleric.
October 1, 2007 at 2:09 pm
beth
Hmm..in the Google Reader I have never had trouble with, ahem, Cleric’s blog.
So maybe that’s a point in gReader’s corner.
October 1, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Will
If you are looking for something easy to use and quite pleasing visually, you might want to try out Newshutch. It is fast and responsive, and it can handle a lot of feeds. Check it out here: http://www.newshutch.com/login
October 1, 2007 at 3:56 pm
jvjannotti
Newshutch crashed uploading my opml. Then it only showed me posts that were 10 months old.
October 1, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Harrison
I think you should try http://www.spokeo.com It’s simpler and cleaner than the old Bloglines, and it works.
The main reason I chose it over other readers is that I got couple friends on LiveJournal and MySpace. There are no readers out there that can syndicate private LJ feeds or any of the MySpace stuff. Therefore, I got to use Spokeo.
October 1, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Stephen
Why would you think I would be opposed to comment bait? I love bait! I get all my bait from Bass Pro Shops (that’s http://www.bassproshops.com, y’hear?), where you’re guaranteed the best low prices on worms and other squiggly things!
October 1, 2007 at 6:41 pm
jvjannotti
Well Harrison, the reason most readers can’t syndicate Myspace (and facebook, etc…) is because of the architecture of those sites and not because of a problem with the readers. I’m not interested in reading myspace pages at the moment.
In any event, I looked at spokeo and quickly realized that wordpress is not even on their list of “supported services” whatever that means.
Spokeo did import my opml files with only a couple of minor glitches, so it immediately outperformed newshutch. And it has a clean, if a bit cartoonish, look to it and is relatively easy to use.
However, once that was done I realized that I cannot link to the main page of a given blog from its feed in Spokeo, though I can link to individual post pages. From one of your spokeo blog entries I see that one of your priorities seems to be avoiding having to link to the actual blog from the reader. Well, one of my priorities is that very abililty spokeo eliminates.
It’s not a bad web app, though I don’t see how it beats bloglines. I wouldn’t call it simpler and certainly not cleaner.
But I guess you’re biased since you work and blog for Spokeo, a point which perhaps you should have made in your comment. But don’t worry, I’ve now done it for you.
October 1, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Will
Hmm, I never had any problem with Newshutch. I guess you are just cursed when it comes to software, etc… Also, there are simple filters on Newshutch to change the date range of posts you want to see.
October 1, 2007 at 9:19 pm
jvjannotti
Cursed or not, even if something is free it should, you know, work.
October 2, 2007 at 5:05 am
Rach
I’m a gmail girl myself!
October 4, 2007 at 5:55 am
jvjannotti
Goodbye Filip! Anonymous email=deletion of comment. If you wish to leave your comment again, you’ll need to use a real address.
October 6, 2007 at 10:52 am
Stephen
Naïve question: Why use a reader in the first place? Does it really help speed up your daily blog-reading?
October 6, 2007 at 3:59 pm
jvjannotti
I don’t know if it speeds up my reading or not, but that’s not why I use a reader.
I organize my feeds in folders based on my blogroll, and there are some other folders with other things too. Bloglines (and greader too) let’s me see which of all the sites I frequent have updates.
It’s easier than clicking down a list of bookmarks, plus it allows me to avoid disappointment when a favorite blog or site doesn’t have anything new to read.
October 7, 2007 at 8:48 am
Stephen
Ah, that makes sense. Cool.
October 9, 2007 at 6:16 pm
markwiseman
I like google reader but then I am a google junkie. Not sure what the original post on the Google Reader Blog was meaning. I hope it meant the GR was just leaving the labs programme not going completely belly up.
By the way, what is it with google and permanent beta?
Mark
October 9, 2007 at 6:48 pm
jvjannotti
I am a pretty big Google junkie myself. And I also like Google Reader, I just like Bloglines better.
I’m not sure what is with Google and permanent beta… maybe they’re just being thorough.
October 12, 2007 at 2:04 am
Willowtree
I’ve used bloglines for a year or so, and in that time I’ve tried greader every now and then, but have always gone back to bloglines for all the reasons you mention in your post.
I put greader back on today to see how it runs now. However, bloglines has finally done some revamping so they may still be a bit ahead of the pack.
I just wish bloglines would pick up the feeds earlier, and while I accept it can be the blog host that is the problem, I use feedburner for my RSS feed and it still takes a couple of hours for bloglines to pick it up.
October 13, 2007 at 3:44 am
Hawthorne
Funny, I use Google Reader to track MySpace Blogs. I used Bloglines for a year and never had any problems with them, but I too am another Google Junkie and switched over to there Reader once they had some bugs worked out.