With the Readerpocalypse now just days away, GigaOM is one of many offering a second look at some alternatives. Their write-up was particularly helpful because they looked at some of the finer details such as freemium versus pay, and whether an offering is a full-fledged product or just a side gig for some otherwise-employed developers.

feedlyFor myself, the Beloved and I have reluctantly hitched our sales to the Feedly wagon. For me, it was a must for two reasons:

1. Cross-Platform Support

This is vital to me because I often check news feeds on the go and flag the stories I want to look at later. In fact, I usually compile the Morning Roundups for TeleRead from bed, picking out the stories on my iPhone app so I can clear my feeds for the next day. I needed both computer versions and app equivalents, and I needed them to be able to stay in sync with each other so I could check my feeds across multiple devices.

2. Linear News Feed

Allegedly, the reason Google Reader shut down is that Google doesn’t think people read the news in a linear way anymore; I still do. I don’t want a news reader that shuffles the stories every time I read it to help me ‘discover’ new stuff. I want to be able to log in and see everything I missed from the sites I visit already. I want to know who posted what since the last time I looked. So for me, Feedly was the winner because it was the most robust and well-supported Google imitator that looked pretty close to what I had before.

In my several weeks of experimenting, I’ve found some other things I’ve liked about Feedly, and some I didn’t.

1. Embedded Audio

I didn’t know they had this feature! The Beloved uses RSS to manage his favorite podcast subscriptions. He can check his feeds and see at once if there’s a new episode, and often he’ll play the episode right from within the reader. He had to fiddle a little to get the settings right in Feedly. I think he accidentally marked something ‘read’ a few times and then had to go back and find it later. But I know he’s glad he can keep using his feed reader for this.

2. The Web Version

This was just rolled out for those who read on their computers, and I don’t like it; the sidebar disappears when you’re reading. This makes it pokier to navigate than Google Reader was. Also, it keeps switching back to picture previews even though I have set it for text only. I know Feedly sees the mobile apps as their main priority, but I hope they spend a little time beefing up the Web version too.

3. Sharing Features

These are more robust than Google Reader, and I approve. It’s nice to be able to email or share a story without leaving the app. I did learn the hard way, though, that they don’t format the shares in such a way that it’s always clear it’s not a regular email. If you hit send and don’t add your own message, it will look like an email from you and not an article or link.

Overall verdict? I still don’t get why Google Reader has to die. But I’ll manage with Feedly. I am not wildly excited about it by any means, but it will do the job.

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"I’m a journalist, a teacher and an e-book fiend. I work as a French teacher at a K-3 private school. I use drama, music, puppets, props and all manner of tech in my job, and I love it. I enjoy moving between all the classes and having a relationship with each child in the school. Kids are hilarious, and I enjoy watching them grow and learn. My current device of choice for reading is my Amazon Kindle Touch, but I have owned or used devices by Sony, Kobo, Aluratek and others. I also read on my tablet devices using the Kindle app, and I enjoy synching between them, so that I’m always up to date no matter where I am or what I have with me."

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