Sunday, May 20, 2007
Another love letter - this time to Playlists in Bloglines!
It's funny that Mary posted her love letter to Picasa b/c I was planning to post this one to Playlists in Bloglines!
Maybe I am the last to know or use this awesome feature but if not, I have to share!
I love Bloglines. It's no secret and I've never been shy about that. I have always loved it and used it. Last night I was wracking my brain to recall who it was and when and where it was that I was shown all the glorious extra wonderful amazing features of Bloglines besides just reading blogs, but I couldn't recall! So for that I'm sorry! But let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time I used Bloglines to read blogs and feeds. It was wonderful. Then, I found out about all the other amazing features: saving a search and subscribing to that; reading listserv messages; having an e-mail address; having a blog (which is cool even though I don't on there); tracking packages and the weather; and there's even more!
However, I was so enamored with Bloglines that I added about 1,109,333 feeds and even with it's wonderful organizational capabilities, I could NOT keep up! I was too overwhelmed! So, for awhile I stopped reading it. I downloaded the Bloglines notifier and would be constantly reminded that there were now 1,109,334 feeds to read and I will nervously click the message away!
So, I had to start over. I made a new Bloglines account and tried to limit my subscriptions to really, really important things. Still, I was in a period of being out-of-love with Bloglines and we grew apart.
Lately, I have been really wanting to get back into keeping up with the blogs and so on, so I started adding some more feeds in. This caused me to immediately panic, remembering my old ways.... Then I noticed this Playlist button - I kept wondering - what is that?! What does that mean!?
Well, now I know and let me tell you - it is love at first sight all over again! :-)
Playlists allow you to organize your feeds into, well, "playlists" of individual feeds even though they may already be organized and categorized into folders and so on.... this means that you may have a folder (as I do) labeled "librarians" and in that folder are all the blogs from librarians - tons, that is! Well, to read those is still overwhelming! However, if I make a playlist of the ones I feel I need to read FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, then I can pick and choose a few and "play" them first thing in the morning. I can add in some news feeds that I need to see FIRST THING and just look at those - instead of being overwhelmed again by all my feeds!
Then, I can make a playlist for the afternoon let's say - of the blogs and sites and so on I feel I need to check up on again - or for the first time maybe - later in the day!
Hooray! Newly organized and not overwhelmed! I can still keep everything filed according to my preferences, i.e., by groups like "librarians" "libraries" "jobs" "politics" etc., but I can pick and choose individual feeds from within those folders to look at as another separate, different "group" if you will in Playlists!
Thank goodness!
Bloglines, you truly are amazing and my love for you is stronger than ever. I think it is almost becoming possible to ONLY log into you and get almost everything I need in one place now! FANTASTIC! I especially love subbing to the flickr feeds and seeing the newest photos RIGHT THERE in Bloglines without having to log into flickr separately!
Love, Amy
Maybe I am the last to know or use this awesome feature but if not, I have to share!
I love Bloglines. It's no secret and I've never been shy about that. I have always loved it and used it. Last night I was wracking my brain to recall who it was and when and where it was that I was shown all the glorious extra wonderful amazing features of Bloglines besides just reading blogs, but I couldn't recall! So for that I'm sorry! But let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time I used Bloglines to read blogs and feeds. It was wonderful. Then, I found out about all the other amazing features: saving a search and subscribing to that; reading listserv messages; having an e-mail address; having a blog (which is cool even though I don't on there); tracking packages and the weather; and there's even more!
However, I was so enamored with Bloglines that I added about 1,109,333 feeds and even with it's wonderful organizational capabilities, I could NOT keep up! I was too overwhelmed! So, for awhile I stopped reading it. I downloaded the Bloglines notifier and would be constantly reminded that there were now 1,109,334 feeds to read and I will nervously click the message away!
So, I had to start over. I made a new Bloglines account and tried to limit my subscriptions to really, really important things. Still, I was in a period of being out-of-love with Bloglines and we grew apart.
Lately, I have been really wanting to get back into keeping up with the blogs and so on, so I started adding some more feeds in. This caused me to immediately panic, remembering my old ways.... Then I noticed this Playlist button - I kept wondering - what is that?! What does that mean!?
Well, now I know and let me tell you - it is love at first sight all over again! :-)
Playlists allow you to organize your feeds into, well, "playlists" of individual feeds even though they may already be organized and categorized into folders and so on.... this means that you may have a folder (as I do) labeled "librarians" and in that folder are all the blogs from librarians - tons, that is! Well, to read those is still overwhelming! However, if I make a playlist of the ones I feel I need to read FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, then I can pick and choose a few and "play" them first thing in the morning. I can add in some news feeds that I need to see FIRST THING and just look at those - instead of being overwhelmed again by all my feeds!
Then, I can make a playlist for the afternoon let's say - of the blogs and sites and so on I feel I need to check up on again - or for the first time maybe - later in the day!
Hooray! Newly organized and not overwhelmed! I can still keep everything filed according to my preferences, i.e., by groups like "librarians" "libraries" "jobs" "politics" etc., but I can pick and choose individual feeds from within those folders to look at as another separate, different "group" if you will in Playlists!
Thank goodness!
Bloglines, you truly are amazing and my love for you is stronger than ever. I think it is almost becoming possible to ONLY log into you and get almost everything I need in one place now! FANTASTIC! I especially love subbing to the flickr feeds and seeing the newest photos RIGHT THERE in Bloglines without having to log into flickr separately!
Love, Amy
Labels: amy kearns, bloglines, blogs, feeds, playlists
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 1:35 PM
