Saturday, June 15, 2013

Goodbye, Google Reader

Dear ChemKnits Followers,

I don't often have non-fiber related posts, but this post is to remind you about the shutdown of Google Reader scheduled for July 1, 2013.  (I don't want you to loose your ChemKnits access!)  If you follow ChemKnits though a different RSS reader or via email, you don't have to do anything.   If you are still using Google Reader, you have two weeks to switch to another service before it shuts down.

To easily retain your Google Reader data and subscriptions (and transfer them to another service) you can use Google Takeout to export your data.  If you miss the July 1 deadline for this service, you can still add all of the blogs you follow manually to the new RSS aggregator.

Below are some articles that discuss various replacements for Google Reader:
Newsblur was attractive to me, but the concern is that you can only see 10 stories at a time... I frequently have 20-25 news items under a feed that I am waiting to catch up on.  I decided to give a couple of services a shot.  Newsblur imported my data directly from Google Reader - no need for me to upload anything.  Nevermind - When I tried in 3/27/13 the free accounts were suspended.  At this point, I don't want to pay $24/year to get a RSS servcie.  

The Old Reader - Next I decided to give the oldreader a shot.  You can sign in through your google account (no creating a new account), and then it gives you instructions how to (and what file to) import from the Google Takeout download.  With a lot of people switching over from Google Reader, your process may be queued.  Be prepared to wait a while (over a week!) for your feeds to be imported, but you can always add them manually if you are impatient.  So far, I have to say that it is comprable to Google Reader and I adjusted quickly.

Which reader did you switch to?  I'd love to hear your recommendations!



  1. I use both gReader and Feedly and hope they both survive the shutdown since both use/have used Google reader services (api & backend, whatever that means). They are both working on alternatives, of course. My fingers are crossed. RSS has made it so very much easier to track blog updates, especially the irregular updates.

  2. Feedly, they just did an update because of the Google Reader shutdown so it should work well as a standalone. My main reason for going with it is that there's an android app so I can use it on my Nexus 7 and phone as well.

    1. My husband is trying out Feedly (he just switched about a week ago) and I'm using TheOldReader. We'll see which one we like better. :)