A while back, Stan Schroeder posed the question “what services would you continue to use if they were no longer free?”
I was quick to list Google Reader as one of mine. It’s a great app, easy to use. So much so that it actually kept us from launching our own reader over a year ago, even though we were about 80% complete.
It’s definitely not perfect, though. Google Reader has no built-in content filters, for instance, a feature I would assume is lacking based on a conflict with Google’s advertising model if not for the fact that other readers have ignored the need as well.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. None of the mainstream readers are addressing content filters or rank. Our own app was meant as a companion app to Feed Rinse, a pass-through content filter that allows you to block posts that match / don’t match explicit criteria.
Feed Rinse creates a rinsed url for each feed to plug into whichever reader you choose as well as a hosted OPML outline of your rinsed reading list. (Mine can be seen here). The reader we were working on was meant to provide a second, more tightly integrated reading option as well.
I’d love to just hit the remaining 20% of the app and roll it live. The problem is that I’ve had too much time to think about it now. Our reader has been on freeze for a year – plenty of time for social networks to make clear the issue of locking preferences inside a single app / network.
So, using today’s readers and social networks as anti-models, our new reader would look like this:
- log in with OpenID
- add your feed(s) or import / subscribe to your OPML
- optionally import / subscribe to your APML
- read (group, star, share, etc.)
If you set the app to manage your scoring options, a preferences tab would allow you to add content delivery rules (e.g., filters) and ranking criteria. These rules / criteria would update your APML which would be available at a hosted URL just as your OPML would be if you set the app to manage your reading list. If you set the app to read only, it would simply subscribe to your OPML reading list and apply any content ranking it could pull from your APML. Simple.
Maybe it’s time to build the better reader. If only Consumer RSS Readers weren’t a dead market.
6 Responses to “The better RSS Reader”
I think saying that consumer RSS readers are dead is like saying search was dead before Google changed the game.
If mainstream feed readers continue to ignore the filtering/ranking needs of their users then another feed reader will find a way to nail the problem and come in to fill the void.
We have made our APML generation and feed filtering APIs available for everyone to use and a number of Feed Reader vendors and LifeStream apps are already finding ways to start implementing the API.
It’s only a matter of time.
I think it would be opportune for NewsGator to get involved – we’d be happy to share.
Another nifty trick would be (which I know you and I have discussed Aaron) would be for a service like FeedRinse to provide a tidy UI for creating APML and filtering feeds and then offering users a new OPML file with filtered feeds.
FeedRinse v2 if you will.
What I’d actually like is the ability to search through the items in my reader that I’ve actually read. If Google could nail this along with a personal content search suite (email, desktop, read items, photos, documents), I’d probably finish my glass of Kool-Aid. Of course, I uninstalled their desktop search months ago due to performance reasons, so there’s more hurdles than just indexing my read content.
We should talk more Chris. We had Feed Rinse set up to output an APML file per the first spec. But the only attributes coming out were explicit item rank. It felt like such a small part of what you were working towards that we didn’t roll it out.
[...] Starbucks to Caribou Coffee to Dunn Bros all have good cups of coffee. An expected level of quality for the volume they serve. Better than Folgers, but not change your life. “[Google Reader]’s a great app, easy to use. So much so that it actually kept us from la… [...]
@Barry – You’re in luck – Google Reader just added search ;)
@Aaron – Will drop you a line
So they did. Cripes, what timing!