Best alternative to Google Reader

I'm hooked but want to be free!

[Swanny007]

I hope this is in the right forum, if not please move.

I've been a Google Reader user since the start. It took me a while to catch on to RSS but I think it's great now, it's definitely a time-saver.

Here's the problem though. I'm trying to decrease my depenancy on Google and am looking for a good web-based RSS reader that functions a lot like Google's Reader. I tried BlogLines but it won't let me leave some items unread.

The main features I want are:
- web-based, or accessible from both my Mac & iPhone
- I want to be able to mark some items as "unread" so I can go through the rest of the items and come back to that item later (best feature of GORG reader!)

Like I said I tried Bloglines from my phone and desktop but it won't let me mark some items unread for later. So I'm looking for ideas on other alternatives that are as good or better than GORG's product. If I knew how I'd even code my own to run off my server. So if there is a script I can install to do the same thing I'd be OK with that to, but it'd have to be Perl or PHP.

I actually prefer to read my RSS news from my iPhone when I'm on the move as opposed to when I'm tied down at my desk. So I guess I'd also be OK with a good RSS reader app from iTunes with the same features.

Thanks!

[bill]

That's a tough one.

The people at NewGator used to provide just about everything you want [webmasterworld.com]. However, they couldn't keep up with Google's free model of doing business, and they now use Google for the back-end of a number of their services.

Unfortunately for you, in my experience, Google's Reader is probably the best online RSS aggregator interface available. That will work very well with both your browser and iPhone.

I'd be interested to hear whether anyone could suggest a good alternative.

[Swanny007]

Thanks bill. After posting this I checked the iTunes store for RSS readers. From what I can tell there isn't even one good free one, and even the ones that are like $4 are still garbage. I did not find a good iPhone app... maybe someone else will have a suggestion.

[bill]

NewsGator's NetNewsWire is pretty good on the iPhone, but it now uses Google for the back end. You might as well be using Google Reader.

I haven't used it for a while, but what about the My Yahoo! page? That's not really a traditional aggregator format, but it could be good to display some select feeds. You could probably access that from your phone as well.