Have been using Bloglines as my main feed reader but couldn't access my account today. When I visited yesterday I was logged in but today a screen I hadn't seen before was asking me which social media service I wanted to use (answer: None, that's why I have Bloglines).
When I attempted to log in another screen said "that page is reserved."
So I checked out feedly.com. Here's the deal: Google is killing Google Reader on July 1, 2013.
If you use Reader and sign up for Feedly now, this is what happens:
1. You download some software (I used the Firefox extension)
2. Feedly redirects you via popup to your Google account and accesses your feeds.
3. You mess around with preferences to get your feeds looking they way you want them (am not crazy about light green as the mandatory color for hyperlinks).
Then on July 1, the day Feedly is calling "Normandy" (shouldn't it be "Dunkirk"?), you will theoretically be pre-migrated into Feedly when forced to flee the Google continent.
The FAQ is silent on whether you will then still log in through Google or whether they'll start making Feedly-only logins available. I would prefer the latter, to keep as much data as possible out of Big Goo. I've only been using Reader as a Bloglines backup and was glad I had it today.
Feedly claims to be "self-funded" but it's impossible to predict where your online reader experience may ultimately be funneled. Bloglines went down in 2010 and was acquired by a company called MerchantCircle, which up until today ran the old Bloglines software without tweaks or bugs.
Am still bullish on independent blogs aggregated through a reasonably neutral reader. I hope those following tommoody.us will take steps to find a new reader because "You Won't Find Me on Facebook."
Another option is "The Old Reader," which I haven't tried yet.
Addendum: Am using "full article" as my default view in Feedly. This means I can actually see at a glance all the content that some blogs, notably Paddy Johnson's, hide on a jump page. Other blogs (such as Corrente and Simon Reynolds) have configured their RSS to give you only a teaser, so you have to click through to their blogs anyway. Not necessarily a bad thing. My blog is better in Feedly for music files, since Feedly has embedded media player (not autoplay, don't worry) and I'm still atavistically resisting any embedded content here (I just hate that hang when scripts don't load properly).
Update: My Bloglines login is working again. Will continue to use this service as my main reader and watch how Feedly weathers Dunkirk. Bloglines is, all and all, a better, simpler design, and it's not an obnoxious "app" with a popup asking periodically for a rating.
