Google has just released a beta version of their RSS Reader. I gave it a quick whirl, but so far it hasn’t blown me away. In typical Google style, the layout and UI is nice and clean (and very similar to Gmail). Contrary to other aggregators (such as Bloglines), Google Reader only displays a single post per page, rather than a whole list of posts. It provides keyboard shortcuts to easily navigate between posts. Interestingly, Google Reader currently doesn’t display any ads, although I’m sure that will change once this service reaches the final stage. Contrary to some reports from other users, I was able to easily import my Bloglines blog list by exporting it as an OPML file and importing it into Google Reader, while preserving my folder hierarchy.
This new service definitely looks pretty nice and works fine, but for now I’m sticking with Bloglines. I find their UI more efficient (for example I couldn’t imagine catching up with a few days worth of Slashdot postings one article by one and much prefer reading all of them on a single page). But it’s probably worth keeping an eye on Google Reader to see how it evolves.