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Sunday, April 7, 2013

Have you heard? Google Reader is shutting down!














That's right, as of 1st July 2013 it will be defunct :(

Not surprisingly here has been a lot of uproar and angst on the interwebs since this news was released, some users have likened it to getting a "Dear John" letter, others are questioning the mind set behind it (you can read more about Google's reasoning behind GR's "retirement" on the  official Google Reader blog here ) and most everyone who has been a user is wondering what to do now?

If like me you read and follow lots of different blogs via Google Reader you'll be looking for a new way to keep track of them all and NOT lose all your subscription information (which in my case has been gained from way too many hours starting at the computer screen until the wee hours of dawn in my pre-kids life, not something I can redo over these days).
Trawling the net/social media has thrown up two likely contenders for a free replacement reader- Bloglovin and Feedly.

So far Feedly is my favourite- I like it's "clean" look and the different layout options for viewing individual blog feeds (you have an option of titles only like GR or more picture focused ones such as "magazine" and cards").

Bloglovin appears to be very popular within the crafting/sewing blogoshere, many blogs that I visit frequently often sport a "Bloglovin" button/image in their sidebar. For this reason I'm also subscribing to Bloglovin to check it out (so many users can't be wrong can they?) but so far I find its screen view not as appealing as Feedly's...maybe it'll grow on me?

Either way IF you chose one of these two to fill in the void that will be left by Google Reader's demise you will be glad to know that signing up and transferring all my subscription info from GR to each was relatively easy and pain free!

BTW I did have some neat-o screen shots lined up to show you the difference between Feedly/Bloglovin  however computer gremlins haves made me need to remove them boo :(











5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kate. I found out about the google reader about 3 weeks ago by following other blogs ON GOOGLE READER and them blogging about it! A couple of years back, I noticed some of the popular blogs that I follow were already on networkedblogs, and in recent months, I'd been seeing "bloglovin." I really didn't want to sign up for anymore social networking pages, etc., however, if we want to keep (for me what little) fans/followers we have, we have no choice.

Both bloglovin and networkedblogs were both easy and "seamless." :-). They brought every blog that I was following over to their site.

My thing now is you have to go to THEIR NETWORK to see your blogs whereas with google reader, it's all right there (no extra trips).

I decided to do it now b/c the end of June, I'll be out of town for a few days with limited internet access and I didn't want to take the chance in forgetting. :-).

I wish they wouldn't do this, but what can you do? Thanks so much. I'll be liking you on face book in a few. :-) -JC

Anonymous said...

Hi Kate, me again.:-). Sorry but I just read your bio and I've seen you out there in blogland. Didn't know until now that you were "Sewing for Sanity." I still have it as a followed blog, but didn't know that it no longer existed.

Question: I noticed you have a domain name (katesews.com) yet you're on a blogger platform. Did you get your domain name from blogger?

How did you create your kate@katesews.com email address?

I'd love to a have a dedicated email just for my blog, but not sure how to go about doing it.

Oh, I had a fitness blog under blogger about 2 years ago and used their site to pay for a domain name. Unfortunately, I forgot to renew it last year and now the ENTIRE BLOG is gone-with no way of retrieving it (I tried a few times last week).

I may have to start all over. Unfortunately, (I noticed with blogger) that once a blog name has been used and if you decide to shut the blog down OR (in this case), not renew the domain name by deadline, there's no way to get it back. Of course, they aren't the best when it comes to actually getting anyone to respond (horrible). :-)

Vicki said...

I trial both feedly and bloglovin. I liked feedly best first probably because it resembled GR most. But I had trouble with their phone app while I didn't with bloglovin. Now I am using bloglovin only. I like how it hides read blogs automaticl. In fact I don't even miss GR anymore.

Kate S said...

Hi JC thanks for your comments! I can see how the Kate Sews/Sewing for Sanity thing would be confusing so I am going to try and do a post to clear some of it up;)
Basically I am still at the Sewing for Sanity blogspot address on blogger (I have the katesews one too but haven't transferred to it - not sure if I will) and brought my domain name from Go Daddy, which also provides you with the "@yourdomain.com" email address as part of the package. I actually find checking emails on the kate sews email a bit concoluted as I have to log into go daddy then log into the email section again so not sure if I will keep it.
There was someone on the web by the username "nightcruizer" (i think) who seemed to be quite helpful with blogger issues, I'll see if I can find his blog/forum etc and will email you the link.
Best of luck ! kx

Kate S said...

I meant to say "convoluted" not concoluted in that last comment- spelling grr!

Thanks Vicki I will check out the phone apps and see how I like them! I'm trying to restrict the amount of stuff I read off my Iphone screen as I think its making my eyesight get worse quicker but perhaps tha app will be more vision friendly than surfing the web?
I've set up an account with both readers so I will just have to see which one I use the most over time. My blog reading time is pretty small these days - I tend to follow a lot of people on FB if I can- so I might not end up fully utilising some of the features these guys offer. At least I will still have a list of blogs I liked on hand though!