The most surprising news last week was the launch of AOL’s Google Reader competitor – AOL Reader (currently in beta). The idea of having one of the internet giants creating an alternative to Google’s dying RSS client never even crossed our minds. July 1st is nearing and we need to find an alternative to Google Reader soon, is AOL Reader our heaven-sent answer?
Beta invitations have opened today, and yours truly was one of the first in line to test the new service. I must say I am really liking it. It has a very simple and clean look, very similar to… Google Reader. (Isn’t it interesting that so many companies want to offer us something closely resembling a “dying product”?).
Oh, well – back to AOL Reader. I was able to easily import my RSS Feed from Google Reader. There is no direct way to import it, like with Feedly and others, but it was still a simple process. I simply exported the file from Google and imported to AOL. Literally took less than a couple minutes.
I haven’t found any bugs or issues with it, but I have only been using it for less than a day. I will be putting it through the test, but so far I am really liking what I’m seeing. No bells and whistles, no crazy animations, no complications. Just a plain ol’ RSS reader, which is my favorite kind. Simplicity and convenience is key with any news aggregating service.
Stay on the lookout for a full review on this service, along with its apps. Meanwhile, you can go to AOL Reader’s website to sign up for a beta invitation! Are you guys going to give it a try? If you do, let us know what you think of it! I am starting to love it.
