Google Reader vs Bloglines Beta, Revisited.

So I mentioned how I switched to Bloglines Beta when Google Reader again broke for Opera.

Things are again working perfectly - in fact, Google Reader has become a fully fledged application, no longer a Google Labs baby. Which means it should be stable. No more (hopefully) random stoppages for Opera users. As long as Opera remains an ‘unsupported’ browser who knows how long that’ll last…

Still, with all systems go, I now have to choose which site to use.

Both have basically the same features, nicely Web 2.0, you scroll though new articles and they’re automatically marked as read. They both autodetect feeds on websites.

So what makes them different?

Bloglines looks nicer. I know its superficial, but hey. If you’re going to be reading something on the net, it may as well look nice at the same time, right? Bloglines also gets bonus points for (so far) not discriminating against my browser.

Google appears to be slightly faster - especially at loading ‘new’ feeds. I follow a few small blogs which don’t have anyone already subscibed to them on Bloglines. Unless Bloglines has already cached the feed, it takes a few hours for it to load. Slightly annoying. Google loads it instantly (as would be expected of either).

The feature I like best about Bloglines, perhaps its defining feature, is the Start Page. Google has a similar page, where it lists recent updates. Bloglines goes a step further, allowing you to select which feeds you want profiled on your start page so that you’re always aware of updates to your favourite sites, they’re not buried beneath feeds such as the ‘Daily Show Videos.’ If you subscribe to a lot of feeds, but have a few core sites you want to keep on top of, this feature will save you much time.

bloglinesbeta.jpg

But this is small in comparison to Google’s two other strong points. Firstly, in-built Google Search. A relatively new addition, and responsible for breaking Opera’s compatibility, Google Reader Search allows you to pinpoint old posts from any of your feeds, searching the entire post (that which the reader receives anyway, so the summary in some cases), and you can even narrow it down to starred posts, specific folders, or blogs.

You can also tag individual posts according to your own specifications, you don’t have to rely on the tags to author chose. So if you wanted you could tag everything you found interesting as ‘interesting’ (how original) and it will be automatically categorised for you - much like labels in gmail.

googlereader.jpg

Being a stats-whore, I also really like the ‘Trends’ page showing you which blogs you read the most, which ones update the mosts, which ones you share the most, star the most, all in very nice graphs.

Basically-

Bloglines - Looks, Start Page functionality.
Google Reader - Speed, search, tags, stats.

Bloglines is still in beta though, and more features are still on their way.

So which one should I use? I still don’t know. Probably Google. Despite the bad blood and unappealing design. For now.

September 20, 2007 | Filed Under Geek 

Comments

5 Responses to “Google Reader vs Bloglines Beta, Revisited.”

  1. Shannon on September 20th, 2007 10:06 pm
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    Geekalicious

  2. Ben on September 20th, 2007 10:31 pm
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    yeah just a little.

    i was bored / procrastinating. ;)

  3. Ben Lowery (Bloglines UI Engineer) on September 25th, 2007 6:07 am
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    Hey Ben,

    Thanks for the quick review! We are indeed still adding features and we love feedback from folks who try us. If there are any specific features you’d love to see in a feed reader, just let me know.

  4. Ben on September 25th, 2007 11:12 am
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    Thanks for the comment Ben.

    As I mentioned before, I’d like to see Bloglines incorporate a better search system, where you can search only those feeds you are subscirbed to. Not sure if it exists already, but I couldn’t see it.

    Have to say though, I haven’t been able to stop using Bloglines in favour of Google as I’d thought I was going to - I like the UI and the Start Page too much!

    Look forward to the next release of features :)

  5. Ben Lowery (Bloglines UI Engineer) on September 26th, 2007 6:09 am
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    Hey Ben,

    You can search just your feeds on the current production site through the advanced search options. (http://www.bloglines.com/advsearch). It’s pretty buried but it is there. We’re working on exposing it more prominently in the beta…

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