I have to admit I've been using Google Reader for most of my RSS needs since spring or so. Before that, I used a Safari client that put feeds in my bookmarks, but that gave me more bookmarks than I wanted. I've found Google Reader to be very simple and intuitive to use, though there are sometimes multiple feeds to choose from. Occasionally I'll start it up and nothing will come up, too; I've never figured out the source of that problem but it goes away eventually.
I know that Bloglines is a popular reader, so I was happy to try it out. In practice, I think I may have drunk the Google Kool-Aid though, because the little differences between the two interfaces just annoy me (things aren't where I'm used to them being). The list of feeds is on the left side, just as in GR, but the main window displays a Bloglines blurb unless I've selected a feed. In GR, that window has a list of some recently-posted items from various feeds (complete with the first few lines so I can browse and decide if I want to read the whole thing) if I haven't selected a feed.
Some have said the Bloglines sign-up process is more cumbersome than GR, but if you don't have a Google account, I think it's about the same. The e-mail verification process is a pretty standard way of setting up an account these days and it didn't bother me any. Having three feeds to choose from in Bloglines is kind of startling, but sometimes GR will also list multiple feeds for one blog or news source.
In sum, I think the two services are fairly similar, but I'm used to Google Reader, so I'll stick with it. I might think about putting a Bloglines chicklet on my blogs, though.
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3 comments:
You and me and everybody and their mother loves Google. I never used GR before this week (I also didn't know what RSS was before this week), but I'm definitely enjoying it. It's easy to use, has a simpler interface than Bloglines, and fits seamlessly into my life.
I'm going to rebel against the Google machine that wants to take over my life!! I like Bloglines. It has a good interface.
I think my liking of Google Reader over Bloglines really means nothing more than the fact that I encountered GR first and got used to it. If I had found Bloglines first, I probably would be writing this post from the opposite point of view. I use lots of Google's services and like them, but it does concern me that they seem to be getting a lock on lots of information.
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