Matt turned me on to Google Reader when I joined the Internet Marketing Monitor back in November.  As a Mac user, I had previously just used the pretty decent RSS support built into Safari.  It was easy to use and, in my opinion at the time, a quick way to view the day's news.  The only other feed reader I'd even played around with was NewsFire.  I didn't have an account with any Internet-based feed aggregation services.  None.

The Love

I was pleasantly surprised by Google Reader.  I vaguely recall having looked at an early release of the previous version and, back then, I wasn't impressed.  Like it's other services, Google had created a feed reader that was simple to use while offering a host of unique features (unique to me, at any rate).  Feed management is first class, too.  Import/export… all of the basics just work well.

I love the "trends" page that Google recently added to Reader.  I love the ability to only show updated feeds.  And I love being able to switch between list and expanded views.  And, like standalone applications, if you leave it open it'll automatically update for you.

Feeds usually look better in Google Reader than in some of the other feed readers.  Images align correctly and I find myself having to visit sites less and less often to see correctly rendered versions of new content (when they ofter a full feed, that is).  Starring and sharing items are other features that I'm slowly learning to appreciate.  In fact, the ability to share feed items is gradually becoming one of those "must have" features for me.

I'm not to the point of buying Google Reader a dozen roses and a diamond ring just yet, though.

The Hate

I hate the amount of resources that Google Reader consumes when you leave it open.  And, of course, to be able to take advantage of the cool auto-update thing, you have to leave it open.  But sometimes I'll walk away from the computer with nothing by two Firefox windows open - one for Google Reader and one for the Internet Marketing Monitor - and when I return, my computer had decided that it's too busy rendering Google Reader to even think about switching windows to IMM.

I thought it might be Firefox.  So I fired up Internet Explorer 7.  Nope… same thing.  I thought it could be Windows.  So I fired up Mac OS X… and Firefox… Safari… it doesn't matter.  The same thing eventually happens.

Maybe it's not designed to be left open for large amounts of time.  But that's the whole point of a feed reader, right?  Isn't it supposed to be something you can leave running all day long to keep you constantly updated on the days' events.  Really… it's the foundation of RSS feeds:  instant, always-on updates.

And that leads us to the timeliness of Google Reader.

It's slow to update.  Really… really slow.  I can post something to the Internet Marketing Monitor before I leave for the day and it still hasn't shown up by the time I get home.  For example, I posted something this morning at 10:25 am (according to WordPress).  It's timestamped 11:40 in Google Reader.  That's 75 minutes late.  And I know it's not just the Internet Marketing Monitor.   I just got an update from the Yahoo Search Blog… almost an hour late.  I can go to a site directly and see content that hasn't shown up in Google Reader yet.  And it doesn't show up for around an hour.

I thought maybe Safari and NewsFire had spoiled me.  Maybe most feed readers weren't almost instant.  Again, I tried my hands at some other options.  I got a Bloglines account.  I tried the Sage Firefox extension. I tried Newsgator.  And guess what?  They were all updated much, much quicker than Google Reader.  Sage and Bloglines are practically instant (like Safari and NewsFire).  Frankly, I don't recall exactly how long it took Newsgator to update (mostly because I didn't care for Newsgator).

So why can't Google Reader keep up?

Conclusion

I'm still using Google Reader as my default RSS reader here at the Internet Marketing Monitor.  But I'm exploring other options at home.  If I'm on my Mac, I'll continue to use Safari.  I just got a new laptop running Windows, and since it's been 6 years since I've ran Windows at home, I have no idea what to use.  Any suggestions?  Right now I'm using Internet Explorer 7's implementation.  Coming from the Mac world of relative online safety I'm still kind of iffy about downloading a bunch of a programs to try out.

But here's the deal with Google Reader.  From recent accounts all over the web, Google Reader is quickly becoming the feed reader of choice.  For a lot of publishers, Google Reader is the interface the majority of folks see their sites through.  And for the most part, that's a good interface.

Google needs to address performance issues.  And I'd love to know why Reader is so much slower than just about every other feed collection service out there.  Are the Google pipes too long or something?  Or is just the way Google Reader is and will always be?

So yes… I love me some Google Reader.  But at the same time, I hate it.  So no presents just yet, GR.