Marco Arment has now confirmed and previewed Instapaper for the iPad. In the post he says “an iPad without native Instapaper Pro is not a device I want to own.” I agree. Instapaper on the iPad is like the drugs+.

However, having purchased a new Macbook Pro just a little over 8 months ago I will not be getting an iPad for some time. I see an iPad, as I’m sure many do, as a secondary device to a main desktop computer. Not as a secondary device to a laptop. It just doesn’t seem practical. Of course, I could buy an iPad for no other reason than because I want one but that’d be frivolous and I’m generally not a frivolous person. At least I try not to be. I presume that at some point in the future when I need to replace my Macbook Pro (my last Macbook lasted over 3 years) I will purchase both a new desktop computer (some flavor of iMac perhaps?) and an iPad. I’ll let you know in a few years.

After ditching it for a month or so, but leaving the bookmarklets, applications, etc. installed on my Macbook Pro I finally had an epiphany one morning over coffee; I had a problem. I was storing a “read later” list on my computer a few different ways and not even realizing it. On my desktop I had a “Shortcuts” directory full of .webloc files (for the unaware, these are files that if you click on them they open that location on the Web in your browser). In Google Reader I had a fairly extensive “starred” list of blog posts that I either wanted to read later, wanted to write about or link to, or wanted to “watch” later if they were video.

With Instapaper, I can combine all of these lists and have them accessible from any device.

So I had now found my problem and now I needed to make Instapaper my solution. It didn’t take long, maybe a day or two, and I had all of my .webloc files, all of my starred items, and a few other URLs stored in Instapaper. Then I changed my workflow a bit to fit my needs and poof; I’m an Instapaper addict.

I figure Instapaper is sort of like drugs. Your friend offers you some crack and immediately you turn it down thinking that you don’t need crack. He says he’ll just leave the crack right here, on the table, in case you want to give it a try. For weeks the crack sits on the table and every so often you look over at it wondering what it is like. Then, one day you get home from a long day and you feel like you just need to escape all of this mess… and there it is. The crack. Before you know it; addict.

So, new slogan for Instapaper; The drugs, no side-effects.

This morning I’ve installed the bookmarklet from the site, installed the free version of the iPhone application, created a Fluid SSB with this really nice Userstyle by Florian Holstein, and I think I’m all set up to begin using Instapaper.

Stay tuned for how it goes.