Hear that? That's the sound of millions of news junkies on the Web scrambling to find an alternative to Google Reader.
As you may have heard, Google Reader will soon be no more. The search giant has announced that it will shutter its much-maligned -- though still widely used -- RSS reader, which will, no doubt, leave many users in a tizzy, searching for other ways to subscribe to their favorite RSS feeds. Sure, Google Reader may not have been the most beautifully designed product to come out of Mountain View, Calif., but it sure was convenient. And now that it's going away, it's evident just how valuable it has been.
With that in mind, we've put together a list of what we think are the best replacements for the soon-to-be-late Google Reader. Plugged-in types won't want to miss a beat once Google Reader sees its sunset, so getting familiar with these alternatives now could be key.
Ideally, an RSS reader should be available on both mobile devices and desktop computers, so we tried our best to focus on this type of service.
That said, we also thought it important to mention a couple of services (at the bottom) that are only available on Android and iOS, simply because we know that they're viable alternatives, and more people than ever are reading on mobile devices these days anyway.
Finally, when you're ready to make the jump, be sure to check out the Data Liberation Front's primer on exporting your Reader data using Google Takeout.