How to Replace Google Reader

Hi everyone!
I'm sure all of you know by now that the Google Reader services will be ending soon.I follow all my blogs on Google Reader, I like that they're all in the same place and that it has no connection to my email (I wouldn't want to get an email every time a blog updates!) but now that it's closing I feel like it may be a good idea to properly search for a way to subscribe that would be the most efficient and easy to use. I never even thought to explore other options other than GR, but now that I have to - I'll make the best of it!

I'm sure some of you are struggling with this as well, so I thought I'd share my thoughts with you so that you can make an educated decision as well!
First you'll want to download all your GR subscriptions, you can easily do this here. Once you do that you can transfer your subscriptions to any other reader you like!

Bloglovin'

I heard a lot of talk about Bloglovin' the the sewing blogosphere so let's talk about that first.
I have to be honest here and say that I don't think this is the best program for me. I like to click on the blog name and have the posts lined up in a way where I don't have to open a new window to actually read the feed (this is why I also get frustrated with blogs that have their settings on snippets of posts rather than displaying the whole posts). The reason I use a reader is to have all my favorite blogs in the same place, so I feel that having them all open be fully displayed in my reader is crucial.
Bloglovin has you open a new window to see the posts - as I said, not my favorite feature. I couldn't find a way to disable this - maybe I'm being technologically stupid though so if you guys can figure out a way how to do this, let me know!

See? Only part of the post is showing!

Moreover, I like to have my subscriptions organized by types and groups, I don't only follow sewing blogs and I like them to be separated (divide and concur!). I tried to find an option for sorting my subscriptions and I couldn't.

This is an example of the catagories I had in my GR.

That being said, Bloglovin seems to be getting ready to recieve a lot of GR users and has a post about moving from GR to Bloglovin. BUT I guess they didn't forsee the amount of traffic and people trying to import GR files and the LINK ISN'T WORKING. I've heard of this happening to quite a few reader sites, because they're not used to so much traffic going through their site. Oh well, I'm sure they'll figure it out!

I think it's so cute they didn't see this coming!

Another thing I like about Bloglovin is that it gives you recommendations for other posts and blogs you'd like, and whats better than finding more blogs to follow and be inspired by?

In conclusion, I DO recommend Bloglovin for those of you who:
1) Don't mind clicking on posts to open them in another window.
2) Like their blogs to be unsorted.
3) Want an easy transition from GR to their new reader.

If you want to start using Bloglovin, don't forget to subscribe to Dinosaurgirl here!

Feedly

I did some research and Feedly seemed to be a top choice for many people as a replacement for GR.
The interface looks really easy to use though it works a little differently than GR. When I click on a category it shows: A list of all the blogs in the category the new posts, featured posts (no idea how they decide what "featured" are), recommended posts and then each blog with it's last three posts.

I love that it saved my categories AND when I click on a blog it doesn't open it in it's own window but in the reader itself:

The only bad thing I can say is that it only works with Google Chrome (meaning if you're using IE or Firefox this won't work for you!) and worst of all, it doesn't work in an incognito browser. (for those of you who aren't familiar with this - an incognito window is a window that doesn't save any cookies or any information while you're using it. I use this a lot at work, this way my personal email doesn't interfere with other accounts I'm signed onto in my other windows).

I like this much better than Bloglovin, and if you're using Chrome you should definitely check it out!


Skimr

Skimr seems to be less of a reader and more of an index of your blogs. As I said before, this style does not appeal to me at all. I'll show you:

It doesn't seem to arrange the subscriptions in any way. Why is this "sewing-" before the blog name helpful??

Then when you click on a subscription this is what happens:

THERE AREN'T EVEN PICTURES. It's just a list of the posts. Once you click on one of them it takes you to the original blog. I HATE THIS.

Anyway, in my opinion (you may disagree!) Skimre - BIG NO!
BUT, if you want to just "skim" (as the name suggests) your blogs and not have to go into every post - this may be a good idea for you!


NetVibes

Last, but not least NetVibes. I don't think this is meant to be a reader but rather a news feed, it does much more than just a reader, you can type in any key word and it brings you news and videos about the topic you asked for. Moreover, you can add widgets such as Facebook and Twitter and keep track of them there.

You have the option of viewng your subscriptions through a reader format (shown above) and a widget format (which I don't like as much but maybe it just takes getting used to!). It's pretty similar to GR, you just click on the blog and all the latest posts appear in the window.

If you feel like you'll take advantage of the widgets (shown above) this reader definitely outperforms Feedly. I have yet to try them out, so I can't say how efficient this is, but as I want to have a reader that works on an incognito browser I think I'll be using this for now!


Anyway, these are the options I heard of THAT ARE FREE and seem to be the most popular. I think my top two choices would be Feedly and NetVibes.
Let me know if you have any question or any experience with any of these (or any other reader I didn't present!)

Disclaimer: I didn't actually have the time to use all these programs in an extensive time period so I can't vouch for how good they are in the long run. Also, I have no affiliation with any of the sites above!