Bloglines, one of the earliest online RSS readers has just launched a new beta version with a revamped interface and some very nice Ajax features that give it the feel of the desktop application.

The most useful of the flashy new features is the drag-and-drop feed management. Organizing your feeds in the right hand column is no a matter of simply dragging them where you want them, all without a page refresh or heading into the setting panel as you would in Google Reader.

Also new are some different reading layouts — Quick view, much like Google Readers List view, Full view, like Google Readers expanded view, and a unique view dubbed three pane which organizes your reading experience much like the three-pane view of an e-mail client.

When Google Reader first launched it was widely accused of borrowing its feature set from Bloglines, but while Google Reader quickly expanded its initial offerings with unique features, Bloglines has remained largely unchanged for some time.

That said the service offers several key features not found in Google Reader, most notably a search function, but also recommendations, e-mail subscriptions and public profiles. And together with the improved interface, Bloglines could be a compelling competitor once again.