Google Reader Play: Completely Useless And Won’t Last, But It Sure Is Pretty


Google is continuing its recent uptick in new features for Google Reader with Google Reader Play, a visual reading tool for feeds.

The easiest way to describe Play is to compare it to a slide show which emphasizes images in a post. Think slideshow in iPhotos, Picassa or Flickr, but with a text extract under each picture. Google describes it as

items are presented one at a time, and each item is big and full-screen. After you’ve read an item, just click the next arrow to move to the next one, or click any item on the filmstrip below to fast-forward. Of course, you can click the title or image of any item to go to the original version. And since so much of the good stuff online is visual, we automatically enlarge images and auto-play videos full-screen.

There’s also a link into recommended items, with Play “personalizing your stream to only show you stuff from those categories” you like.

To use, Google Reader users click on the drop down menu to the right of each folder, then select “view in Reader Play.”

Of the top, Play is pretty. In fact, it’s the most beautiful feature ever offered in Google Reader, although not that the bar was set particularly high to begin with. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Google’s other useless Google News feature Fast Flip, but nicer looking.

The key though is its usefulness. As a novelty, you can’t help but like it. But Google is pitching this as RSS for the masses, and I just don’t buy it; RSS most certainly isn’t dead, but it’s not mainstream either. Those who use a service like Google Reader do so not for the beautiful browsing experience, but because it’s the quickest and most efficient way to read/ keep up with a pile of sites. Those users aren’t about to start embracing Play because in delivering beauty, it sacrifices efficiency.

As a novelty it’s useless as a serious feed reader, and I’m predicting that it won’t last because it’s a niche product delivered as part of an already niche product. Still, credit to who ever created the visuals; if there’s one thing we can say about Google today, is that the company which once mastered the art of delivering visually ugly services has sure changed its ways.

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