I could access Google Reader from any device with a web browser.

Thunderbird requires that I have an application installed on the device.

Thunderbird also cannot magically backfill a new subscription. Google Reader could, because pretty much guaranteed, someone else was subscribed already so Google had the history.

Thunderbird can't, but Feedly can

I used Feedly for a while and found it to be flaky, in pretty much the same ways as Digg reader.

Which ways? (I haven't tried Digg Reader.)

I feel like Feedly is okay. Free native apps and sync is nice. I wish it didn't auto mark read after 30 days though. I tend to do my rss processing in huge batches and miss stuff because of that.

I haven't used it in a while, but my recollection is that it would regularly "forget" that I'd already read items, and days of stuff would show as new again. And other times it would show feeds as unread even though it didn't have any items shown unread.

I also recall not liking the interface but cannot recall now exactly what it was. Feedly is the one that provides a chrome extension instead of just a website, right?

The weird thing is their web version / chrome app never has the state problems for me. But the mobile version on iOS screw s up regularly. I'll reach the end of my feed with the "all done" screen and upon refresh all the stuff I just read pops back as unread. Really annoying.

The way they implemented social worked well for me. It was like a mini-HN with my friends.