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We learned a lesson that you can't rely on free services like Reader because they likely will eventually be shut down. Reeder is now asking for $5 per month so

by nikcub 13y ago

We learned a lesson that you can't rely on free services like Reader because they likely will eventually be shut down. Reeder is now asking for $5 per month so that is can be sustainable, so isn't the solution just to pay the $5 per month rather than asking one of the free products to imitate what you get from a paid product? You will just be at square one again anyway since even if Feedly does implement all of these changes, you still have a free product that at some point will need to compromise itself through advertising, become a paid product, or shutdown. I really thought the punchline to this post would be 'and this is why its worth paying $5 per month for Reeder. Ranting at Feedly to fix their free product seems to miss the point of why we are all in this situation with the Reader shutdown in the first place.

Tichy 13y ago
I don't think that's the lesson at all. Even a feed reader that charges 5$/month is more likely to go broke than Google. Charging money doesn't guarantee success.
amirmc 13y ago
Does anyone know for sure that $5 is actually sustainable? Just because it's non-zero doesn't automatically mean it'll be around for the long run.
- smackfu 13y ago
  Exactly. A few services have popped up that are $10 or $15 a year. Probably enough to pay for servicing your account but if the service isn't popular, and there are only 100 users, that developer is not going to commit that much time or energy to the service and may just pull the plug after a year or earlier. As long as they refund your money, you can't complain, right?
- ryanklee 13y ago
  Does anybody know for sure that anything is actually sustainable at any price point for any number of users? Buying into a service, either through time or money means risk on the part of a user, no matter free or paid. Something remains open or something closes. Who knows. I hate to sound like a god damned schmuck, but there are no guarantees in life, not the least of which when it comes to such frivolities as rss feeds.
jimhart3000 13y ago
What's the source of that $5/month claim? It's not on Reeder's site or twitter - is there another place that's come out? Not calling your statement into question or anything, just very disappointed to find that out...
- nikcub 13y ago
  Reeder is replacing syncing to Google Reader with Synching to Feedbin, which costs $2 per month The complaint about iPhone is also only short term, since the team is working on adapting the other apps to use Feedbin as well before the shutdown date. I think Feedbin was $5 per month and have discounted the price because of all the refugees being anticipated. In short, OP can continue what he was previously doing, only now it would cost $2 per month rather than free. He wanted them to store the sync information somewhere free, like Dropbox, rather than Feedbin Relevant links: https://feedbin.me/ https://feedbin.me/ http://reederapp.com/reader/ http://reederapp.com/reader/ I think I am just going to signup for Feedbin, I haven't really been able to adapt to using Feedly
  - bradleyland 13y ago
    I ended up choosing Feedbin after looking at the alternatives. I didn't really want something "innovative". I rather enjoy my workflow. Their web client is pretty decent, and somewhat resembles my favorite native app, Reeder. When Reeder updates, I'll happily continue to pay Feedbin to serve as the backend for sync only.
  - jfb 13y ago
    I have a bad feeling about the future of iPad/OSX Reeder. It's a shame, because they are excellent applications, but I'm actively investigating alternatives. rss2imap, in particular.
- nmcfarl 13y ago
  Yeah - particularly since reeder syncing is now via feedbin which is 2$ a month. Which makes this service 84$ a year. A bit steep in my opinion - particularly the reeder part. I'm willing to pay up front for software that runs on my phone, but I'm not sure I'd pay 60$ for reeder, and making it a subscription, for a non-hosted service, would be a deal breaker for me. Hopefully this report is inaccurate/mistaken in some way.
adrianwaj 13y ago
I wonder how much money Google could've made if they just said "pay or leave" rather than just "leave" and/or spun off reader into some new startup.
- NelsonMinar 13y ago
  I bet they could have made literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. Google will finally figure out how to be rich!
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
gwern 13y ago
> We learned a lesson that you can't rely on free services like Reader because they likely will eventually be shut down. All Google services are likely to be shut down. Being paid or not doesn't seem to make nearly as big a difference as you seem to think; see my analysis of the topic: http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  Your linked analysis does not seem to support the conclusion you make in the above post that "All Google services are likely to be shut down".
  - gwern 13y ago
    What population do you think I was sampling from, exactly? And your captiousness is not contributing to the discussion, which was to point out that the subscription/profit variable is only weakly correlated with being shut down, contrary to claims that free services are uniquely vulnerable.
pbreit 13y ago
Charging a fee is not remotely a guarantee of longevity. At all.

by nikcub 13y ago

Tichy 13y ago

I don't think that's the lesson at all. Even a feed reader that charges 5$/month is more likely to go broke than Google. Charging money doesn't guarantee success.

amirmc 13y ago

Does anyone know for sure that $5 is actually sustainable? Just because it's non-zero doesn't automatically mean it'll be around for the long run.

smackfu 13y ago
Exactly. A few services have popped up that are $10 or $15 a year. Probably enough to pay for servicing your account but if the service isn't popular, and there are only 100 users, that developer is not going to commit that much time or energy to the service and may just pull the plug after a year or earlier. As long as they refund your money, you can't complain, right?
ryanklee 13y ago
Does anybody know for sure that anything is actually sustainable at any price point for any number of users? Buying into a service, either through time or money means risk on the part of a user, no matter free or paid. Something remains open or something closes. Who knows. I hate to sound like a god damned schmuck, but there are no guarantees in life, not the least of which when it comes to such frivolities as rss feeds.

jimhart3000 13y ago

What's the source of that $5/month claim? It's not on Reeder's site or twitter - is there another place that's come out? Not calling your statement into question or anything, just very disappointed to find that out...

nikcub 13y ago
Reeder is replacing syncing to Google Reader with Synching to Feedbin, which costs $2 per month The complaint about iPhone is also only short term, since the team is working on adapting the other apps to use Feedbin as well before the shutdown date. I think Feedbin was $5 per month and have discounted the price because of all the refugees being anticipated. In short, OP can continue what he was previously doing, only now it would cost $2 per month rather than free. He wanted them to store the sync information somewhere free, like Dropbox, rather than Feedbin Relevant links: https://feedbin.me/ https://feedbin.me/ http://reederapp.com/reader/ http://reederapp.com/reader/ I think I am just going to signup for Feedbin, I haven't really been able to adapt to using Feedly
- bradleyland 13y ago
  I ended up choosing Feedbin after looking at the alternatives. I didn't really want something "innovative". I rather enjoy my workflow. Their web client is pretty decent, and somewhat resembles my favorite native app, Reeder. When Reeder updates, I'll happily continue to pay Feedbin to serve as the backend for sync only.
- jfb 13y ago
  I have a bad feeling about the future of iPad/OSX Reeder. It's a shame, because they are excellent applications, but I'm actively investigating alternatives. rss2imap, in particular.
nmcfarl 13y ago
Yeah - particularly since reeder syncing is now via feedbin which is 2$ a month. Which makes this service 84$ a year. A bit steep in my opinion - particularly the reeder part. I'm willing to pay up front for software that runs on my phone, but I'm not sure I'd pay 60$ for reeder, and making it a subscription, for a non-hosted service, would be a deal breaker for me. Hopefully this report is inaccurate/mistaken in some way.

adrianwaj 13y ago

I wonder how much money Google could've made if they just said "pay or leave" rather than just "leave" and/or spun off reader into some new startup.

NelsonMinar 13y ago
I bet they could have made literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. Google will finally figure out how to be rich!
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

gwern 13y ago

> We learned a lesson that you can't rely on free services like Reader because they likely will eventually be shut down. All Google services are likely to be shut down. Being paid or not doesn't seem to make nearly as big a difference as you seem to think; see my analysis of the topic: http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns

dragonwriter 13y ago
Your linked analysis does not seem to support the conclusion you make in the above post that "All Google services are likely to be shut down".
- gwern 13y ago
  What population do you think I was sampling from, exactly? And your captiousness is not contributing to the discussion, which was to point out that the subscription/profit variable is only weakly correlated with being shut down, contrary to claims that free services are uniquely vulnerable.

pbreit 13y ago

Charging a fee is not remotely a guarantee of longevity. At all.