Why I Use Bloglines Instead of Google Reader

December 18, 2007 in Technology with 18 Comments

I now have a couple more reasons why I continue to use Bloglines instead of Google Reader to follow blogs. Here they are. Two cool new features and one old, basic feature that I can’t believe Google hasn’t adopted.

#1 = The ability to preview posts and see any comments from the actual blog.

Bloglines_preview_2

(Look…there’s Gary Lamb.)


#2 = The ability to save posts in user-defined folders.

Bloglines_saved_2

(Look…there’s a great post on delegation by Penelope Trunk.)


#3 = The ability to subscribe to feeds of previous searches.

Bloglines_searchfeed_2

(Look…Sherry blogged about Craig’s book and mentioned "NewSpring.")

What feed reader are you using?

18 Responses to “Why I Use Bloglines Instead of Google Reader”

  1. Scott Magdalein December 18, 2007 at 9:02 pm #

    I use NewsFire. It’s a product of ThinkMac software. It’s a desktop application for Macs. However, when I get the Christmas present I’ve been waiting for [T-Mobile Shadow], I’ll be moving my blogs to Bloglines. I used to use it, but got tires of having to go through a browser to check if the blogs had been updated. With NewsFire, new posts are sent to me. It’s got a new Leopard-friendly look, too!

  2. Sean Pritzkau December 18, 2007 at 9:15 pm #

    I use Google Reader. I really like it, but I only track about 20 feeds so maybe it isn’t ideal to someone who has a lot more. You mentioned why you like bloglines better, but is their specific things you don’t like about Google Reader?

  3. Jason Hicks December 18, 2007 at 9:20 pm #

    I was with google…but you convinced me to switch!

  4. T December 18, 2007 at 9:26 pm #

    I used bloglines for a long time – and then jumped to g-reader because of the nifty app they have for the Mac “google notifier”. Notifier just takes you right to the blog – which I also like.

    Later,
    Adam “T”

  5. Mark Partin December 18, 2007 at 9:31 pm #

    I like to use newsgator.com. It has many of the same features you mention in bloglines – the ability to save items to user-defined folders and previews of posts in the reader. I use newsgator to compile all of the websites and blogs I review on a daily basis.

  6. Tom December 18, 2007 at 9:39 pm #

    Spokeo! I’ve found this new reader through this recent Techcrunch post: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/10/spokeo-20-a-feed-reader-for-your-friends/

    It allows me to track my friends alongside with RSS feeds. Very convenient.

  7. JD December 18, 2007 at 9:41 pm #

    I can’t give up the ‘NEXT’ button of Google Reader. Allows me to read each blog in it’s originally designed format; with comments on that postings.

  8. Rindy December 18, 2007 at 10:03 pm #

    Bloglines–for all the reasons above!

  9. Steve Wilson December 18, 2007 at 10:44 pm #

    I have a Mac so I get all my RSS feeds in a mailbox below my inbox. I grew tired of logging into Bloglines each time I wanted to read posts and I love using Mail in the Leopard OS for this!

  10. Ken December 18, 2007 at 10:56 pm #

    Bloglines. It’s mobile verison (http://m.bloglines.com) works like a dream on even the most meager web enabled cell phones, too.

  11. Jason Curlee December 18, 2007 at 11:00 pm #

    Pretty sure Google reader does 2 but not one…there is a cool search now that lets you search every blog you subscribe or in your defined folders…one new thing I like is that I can see what other friends are sharing in my reader if they have goog reader and a gmail address.

    For me #1 isn’t a big deal.

  12. joshua December 18, 2007 at 11:54 pm #

    google reader. if for no other reason than because i can share entries i find interesting.

  13. adam December 19, 2007 at 9:26 am #

    I really love Google reader. I’m not too sure about this new sharing thing, but I absolutely love the easy and integration into iGoogle and using it as part of Google apps.

    I tried bloglines back a few years ago and found it to be tough to navigate. I went from that to myyahoo to google reader.

    PA

  14. Eric Engleman December 19, 2007 at 4:17 pm #

    Tony,

    Thanks for the props! We’re so pumped that old-time Blogliners love the new Beta. We have even more Bloggy goodness slated for 2008. Happy New Year!

    Eric and the Bloglines Team

  15. Charles December 19, 2007 at 9:54 pm #

    Bloglines

  16. Charles December 19, 2007 at 9:56 pm #

    I have been using Bloglines for over a year now and I love it for many of the same reasons

  17. Robin December 21, 2007 at 7:40 pm #

    I’m using Google Reader b/c anything Google comes out with Terry immediately adopts for all members of the Storch family who use a computer.

  18. Pete Thomas January 5, 2008 at 7:34 am #

    Thanks for this post Tony

    After reading this post and decided to import my feeds from MyYahoo into both Bloglines and G-Read and test both side by side for a time.

    I fell in love with Bloglines for the cool features you mentioned but it looks like I will have to settle on G-Reader because I get to many “There appears to be a server communication problem” with Bloglines. I am sad because I really like bloglines but a reader should speed things up and the communication errors occur to frequently.

    I will try them again in a few months but by then I may be addicted to G-Reader. We’ll see.