My assignment is to investigate and subscribe to a newsreader and report my experience. In the last 2 hours spent investigating RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and Newsreaders I've learned alot! Newsreaders, of which there are dozens-some free and others paid subscriptions, allow one to receive updated articles from your preferred news and entertainment sites. So, instead of me browsing weather.com, school library journal, and Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman's blog, the newest posts from these favorites of mine will come to me.
Google Reader has, for the last 3 years, been the most popular newsreader and the one I chose to join. When reaching Google Reader's website, a notice came up immediately. Google Reader will no longer be around after July 1, 2013. The notice was posted yesterday. Still, the process of joining was easy, so I decided fulfill the assignment. I was offered a choice to browse for my favorites in news or other, or I could look at the packages. I chose a package of news (9 publishings from around the world and locally). Unfortunately, and this is all owing to my slow learning curve, I'm still trying to figure out how the news will be delivered.
That was the first hour. In the second hour I spent researching this topic the Nancy Drew in me had to find out why Google Reader was folding and what other viable newsreaders were out there. Moreover, was the whole concept of RSS fading as well? Note to self: don't 'google' ten top free newsreaders. Seriously, it took some time to find the more recent reports on newsreaders and their future.
My findings: after looking at the top five list of newsreaders for last several years; News Demon was one of the best. Unfortunately, they are somehow tied to Google Reader and are forecasted to announce their take-down later this summer. Other free newsreaders I viewed were either hard to navigate or didn't offer what Google Reader did. I also looked at Usenet.com, which is a site advertising paid subscriptions to newsreaders that match your preferences. It makes me wonder if free newsreaders are a thing of the past...
And then I read an article sent to me by Google Reader newsfeed that addressed concerns of Google Reader users and assured them that if they carried out necessary functions for transfer by July 1st, all their info. would be saved.
I'll let my 9 publication news package come to me, and wait to here more on this front before I sign onto a newsreader for all my daily reading updates.
Stay tuned as I'm sure I'll come back to this topic.
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