Quite a few of you read this blog via Google Reader and, since I’m beyond grateful that we talk every couple of days, you need to know that Google will be dropping support for Reader this summer. That means that if you do nothing, we’ll stop talking and neither one of us will really know why, since we won’t have had anything to do with it. We’ll just go silent. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years finding people who write stuff I want to read — and I’m terrified that I’ll lose track of all of that great content when Google Reader goes away. When we sign up to read a blog’s RSS feed, we select a feed reader (like Google’s) to which the feed is automatically added. The opposite can also happen — you can add a feed from within a reader, by entering the URL for the feed (or some part thereof during feed discovery). Either way, a list of RSS feeds is built up and every time you open a reader app, new content is served to you. We’ll need to move all of the feeds we have in Google Reader to some other app, or have to start collecting sites all over again. Luckily, there are lots alternatives. The problem is picking the right one:

• Dassault Systemes’ Netvibes promises an easy migration path when the time comes, complete with the ability to import your Google RSS feeds. Netvibes also has an iGoogle-like dashboard, which may be a deciding factor since that too is being killed off by Google. [What are they doing over there, anyway?] I won a premium subscription to Netvibes after SolidWorks World and find it quite useful, though not as intuitive as I might like — but that may change, now that Netvibes could attract a lot of former Google admirers if it makes the transition easy enough.
• I’m also trying out Feedly on my iPad and iPhone. It’s much snazzier than Google Reader and the transition is easy: just sign in with your Google Reader login and you’re good to go. But sometimes snazzy isn’t what you want, so …
• You could install a browser plugin like the RSS Feed Reader extension for Chrome or a desktop app like Reeder for the Mac (not sure about Windows options). Each has quirks but both work just fine.
• If none of these alternatives work, we can always sign up for email versions of all our blog feeds. That would overwhelm me but if you’d like to give it a go, just click on the envelope icon on the top of the right column or go here to set up the email. Most blogs follow a similar convention, so look for an envelope or mailbox icon to set it up — you have to do it for every blog, so it’s not the easiest alternative. [Update: Here’s a way to send all of your RSS feeds to a Box, Dropbox, Evernote or email account for later reading.]

Google says Reader support will end on July 1. Most other readers appear to have a mechanism that grabs your RSS feeds from Google but you may need to export your RSS list from Google and then import it to your new reader (via Google Takeout). I imagine there’s time to find a reader that works for you, but you may want to do it soon — or at least export your feeds before they’re lost in the shuffle. Me? I’m annoyed that something I rely on and that works so well is simply going away. Would I be willing to pay for it? Probably not, but not because it’s not worth paying for. Google gathers so much intel on me as I navigate the Web, that I think they should be paying me! If anyone else were to ask, I’d be willing — heck, I just paid $4.99 for Reeder. Thinking back on laptops and desktops over the years, it’s possible that I’ve been using  Google Reader for close to 10 years. I’m going to miss it, like an old friend I meet for coffee every morning. Are you thinking about this? Do you have a favorite RSS reader? Share in the comments section!