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September 23, 2007
Google Reader vs Bloglines
I have been using Google Reader for several months now and only recently subscribed to a Bloglines account. I love Google Reader and I am comfortable with its tools, so clearly I will have a bias towards this aggregator. In this entry I will compare the tools of these two products, and explain why I believe Google Reader is a better aggregator.A difference between the two aggregators is how different feeds are marked as read. In Google Reader the articles will be marked read as you scroll down; if you don’t like this feature you have the option of turning it off. In Bloglines the articles will be marked read after you click on a feed category. Personally, I don’t like this and prefer the option that Google Reader has. However, this is a minor feature that really doesn’t offer any advantage.
The first major difference between the two aggregators is how you can organize the information that you read. Google Reader offers several different options for organizing the articles that you have read: tagging, starring, sharing, searching, and trends. As you read in Google Reader, you have the option of tagging articles with certain key words. These tags will group the article in a category with other articles tag with the same key word. If you find an article that you particularly like in Google Reader, you can “star” or “share” the article. This will group it with all other articles that have been starred or shared (sharing an article will also make it available publicly). In my opinion, Google Reader’s search feature is its coolest feature, because it allows you to search all of your saved items (tags, shared items, starred items, and all feed subscriptions). The trend feature is unique to Google Reader, it allows you to watch what subscriptions you are using—and what ones you never read. This feature is great for me because I tend to subscribe to more information than I can keep up with. So if I notice in the trends that I rarely read a subscription, I will drop it. Bloglines offers the ability to clip, blog, and search articles. The clipping and blogging features are ok; however the search is very cool. Not only can you search your posts, but you have the ability to search all posts. Even more, you can subscribe to any search that you make.
Posted by joezat at September 23, 2007 07:13 PM