I think it might have been Mr Briggs who recently said on Twitter something like “if nothing else Google closing Reader has reinvigorated the RSS market”. Sounds like something he might say smart chap that he is.

I have probably used Google Reader more than any web service other than Twitter and Gmail. It has been part of my daily routine since pretty much the day it was released as a beta Google Labs product. As I am going through a bit of a painful divorce with Google at the moment anyway with or without the shutdown I’d probably have been looking to move away and at least now there are options!

After the initial announcement I originally jumped to Feedly. It wasn’t really a comfortable fit but a lot of people were recommending them and the move was straightforward. Also a key element for me is I like a service with a decent Android client which they had. I read most of my feeds on the morning commute and it is a great deal easier with a decent client doing the heavy lifting. I also need that client to support seamless (ish) sharing with Evernote as that is where everything goes these days.

Despite some efforts to customise the web/desktop version though I couldn’t quite gel with it so I went on the move again. On the recommendation of Mike I tried and liked Feedbin but it lacks a decent Android app and the same scuppered Old Reader. So I ended up settling on NewsBlur. This was a mistake – I paid my $24 to jump the queue but the web version never suited me and the Android app was horribly slow – I persevered for a couple of weeks but it never improved and my mild moan on Twitter was met with a snotty reply from the official account that certainly meant they were gone from my life.

I was thinking of just waiting for the ‘fabled’ Digg Reader but I have a feeling demand is going to cause that to grind to a halt pretty sharpish. Either that or they will institute a Mailbox queue system.

Two things led me to my current settled (this week at least!) system. Feedly announced they had finished their work to more to a platform for RSS to really replace GReader and @pubstrat recommended a Android RSS client on Twitter.

The new Feedly Cloud seemed quicker and easier to personalise and with just a couple of tweaks was able to get it working in a way I liked and unlike before it held these personalisations from visit to visit. It now looks and acts much more like my old GReader – what can I say I don’t like change!

The Android app is wonderful. It is called Press and it is one of those rare Android offerings that is as pretty and slick as any of its iOS cousins. It is also quick and reliable so is helping make my commute much less painful!

Well that was a lot of words to basically say bye to Google Reader and hello to Feedly and Press!