Bloglines vs. Google Reader

Bloglines vs. Google Reader

Bloglines:

• Dated interface
• Weird User Interface, dare I say “Frames”
• To long a delay between setting up account and getting up to speed
• Feed setup takes too many clicks
• Sometimes too much customization, leads to frustrated users and in the end less use
• Too much feed visible and even when I changed the setting to only show headlines it still showed the whole entry
• Too make changes requires going to different menus rather than being able to do it within the same screen.
• Does it do folders, like Google? At .40 cents a minute (I’m blogging from the middle of the Atlantic) it’s too expensive to try and figure that out! Most people aren’t even being charged those kinds of fees and still won’t bother to try and master this reader.

 

Google Reader:

• Easy to use interface
• Quick to setup
• Feed addition is quick and easy
• Sharing is simpler, and it’s a one-click process
• You don’t have to email to share
• Scan quickly through feeds
• View trends
• Quickly switch views between “expanded” and “list”
• “Home” section gives you headlines from each of your feeds
• quickly see “Friends” shared items
• Allows for a high consumtion of information in a short amount of time
• I could go on forever about the features that Google Reader has that Bloglines does not have or has and just doesn’t do well.

Overall, I would recommend Google Reader any day over Bloglines. I feel that while Bloglines offers a few more features (it’s a bit smarter and can find feeds where they didn’t really even exist), it’s just too much of a pain to really play with. The interface is a bit dated and customization menus are too buried within the interface, if you just want to do quick adjustments. Maybe this is all due because I am more used to Google Reader been using it now over year, but I am a pretty savvy internet user and Bloglines just frustrates me. I don’t care enough about it or see its features relevant enough to my needs to spend any more time with it. This is coming from someone who really likes using new internet apps (even the annoying and non-useful ones) and this one just didn’t do it for me.