I have a Google Reader account, but to be honest I rarely check it. I barely have time to check my e-mail, check my Twitter feed, keep up with Facebook, do my job, and spend some QT with my family. That being said, Reader made great sense in aggregating info for me rather than me spending hours checking all the blogs and feeds that I wanted to look at.Google has decided to end of life Reader. There seems to be quite a bit of buzz about it in the twitterverse, but I have yet to see anyone explain why they "need" reader. There are other aggregators out there. Is it as convenient in this Google Apps world? probably not, but there are choices. I will provide a few here for you.
First of all, Google + will supposedly absorb Reader and take over what reader does. This seems to make sense as Google is trying to "put more wood behind fewer arrows". (their words, wish they were mine) Will Google + aggregate? I am not sure, but I would think it will.
Here are some web based tools
Netvibes
Feedly (NOTE: feedly uses reader on the back end, so be aware)
Newsblur
Or be very daring and leave the web based world and select an application
FeedDemon (PC)
RSS Bandit (PC)
NewsNetWire (Mac and iOS)
I am sure there are other choices out there and now that reader is condemned, more will probably be developed. One could even hope that Delicious Monster or Panic could create an application.
In the end, the death of Reader teaches us to be careful about putting all our eggs into one big Google basket.
