In a sense RSS was never embraced by the mass audience. It took some work setting up a RSS reader and grabbing a proper feed. I was big on RSS but most mainstream users never caught on.

I have not used Reeder nor do I own an iPad but if Reeder requires the user to add feeds on their own, then the user will prefer Google Reader because content is simply fed to them. Consumers love being fed info, all the better if they don't need to lift a figure.

I think Google Reader is also not a very widely used product but definitely more so than RSS because it gives the user content without needing him/her to manually put feeds together.

Google is Google. When have they ever been great at design? =p.

Reeder isn't actually a RSS-reader. It is a reader of RSS services, one of them is Google Reader.

Reeder for Mac is the best RSS client.
Google Reader's online native interface, it very shitty.

On mobile, Newsify has the best interface. (iOS)
Haven't tried Reeder mobile.

Google makes their own mobile app, Currents.
You can import Google Reader feeds.

I never used Newsify, but I read there's a free version now so I'll test. Furthermore I only used the Google Reader web interface ones, years ago. So I'm off looking at that ;)

I agree that Google Reader is more than just a RSS reader. I do put old RSS feeds into Google Reader on top of the automatic content that one can access.

@Raimond -- Didn't know there was a PAID version, lol.

@Dave -- I agree that people are super lazy and need to be fed content. I do like the days with 100 windows open reading too much lol. It's even summarized for us! :)

I see Google Reader as a service for RSS consolidation. It's the «database» for my feeds. I use it to organize my feeds, tag them, un/subscribe to them but never to read them.

I have used/tried multiple RSS clients to access Google Reader (NetNewsWire, Feedler Pro but also Flipboard, Pulp, Feedly, name it...). Reeder is my favorite for Mac and iPhone (for iPad I still prefer FeedlerPro). I commute using the subway in Montréal (no WiFi/3G) so the offline capabilities of an RSS client are a key feature for me. And Reeder provides that.

I think people often underestimate the power of RSS feeds, not only for media but also for other stuff: feeds for hashtags or feeds from tag on delicious, feeds for Basecamp updates, etc. Other examples?

You have to check out Newsify. You can zip through feeds with it.. Mobile only.. It's kind of like Pulse's online interface.

Yep, thanks, I was actually checking the App store for screenshots. Looks great indeed! (I guess, with all those clients, getting better and better, RSS feeds are not dead yet)

Oh not dead indeed! I use them much less now that I don't run a news based blog. Switched to having original content. But many people in that situation I was in, NEED it.

@zakk I've installed Newsify on both iPhone and iPad. Great app, thanks!

You're welcome! It also has Pocket support.. Which is a must for me. (Formerly Read It Later)

RSS could have a future, but only if publishers make it so. The main problem at present is the random nature of these feeds – some site truncate, some don't put images in, and some only put headlines. This makes it very difficult for services like Feedly/Newsify to display posts properly. Now if only publishers followed some good practice guidelines... flipboard.com

@Mark -- To get more traffic then don't give all content. It'll stay that way if they want their advertisers to pay them. They need to make money somehow.

@Zakk then a Spotify needs to emerge that the publishers themselves have supported. It's the only way they can merge their collective (if extremely fragmented) influence in ways that will help them leverage their current readers and find more readers.

For users, I think RSS's are just played out. Even extremely well designed RSS feeds like feedly.com and flipboard.com are just not interesting products anymore. A well pruned Twitter feed of the right journalists will give you something better than almost any RSS you can make. The social element and engagement element within RSS also isn't done well at all. Think about it, people still use anonymous commenting sections on each individual publishers website. How silly is that!

Also, I find something like topsy.com to be more useful than an RSS feeds and Google News feeds at this point. Especially because you can use the "advanced search" and search by a particular URL.

Not the greatest design in the world, but very useful.

You're right, but it's still relevant. Millions upon millions still love the ability to read every article nice and fast, to keep updated. It's still the only way to do it besides Twitter, and having Twitter bulging with news feeds is ridiculous.

Truncating it makes it easier to browse quickly. Unlike Flipboard and such. You could scroll for hours before getting done with it.

And those with only a few favorite sites, Twitter is perfect with news feeds, other than that, RSS is still golden. Need an alternative before we start talking its demise lol

@Zakk the fact that RSS apps are consistently at the top of applications downloaded (the ecosystem can support a wide variety of them since Google Reader is no longer the standard) is even more incredible given that they haven't improved much in years.

I disagree that Twitter is "perfect" because there is no actual community around the sources that I like on twitter. There can't be an "website comment section" vibe in only 140 characters. It's good for sourcing things yourself, but not for sharing and conversing.

I mean, I still use email for this. Isn't that pretty sad? Why isn't there a Spotify for news yet...where you can do your own thing, interact with the content, as well as discover socially?

@AJD -- There's no vibe for Twitter, til' now.. Branch. Ha. Linked with Twitter only. So it took that long but it's here I suppose.

@AJD You should see the state of my inbox – I think my mother emails me every online article she reads ;-D