Starbucks App Pick of the Week: Instapaper

For those of you who may not already be aware, Starbucks Coffee has something of a partnership with Apple’s iTunes Store and for the past several years they have been participating in a program called Starbucks Pick of the Week. Essentially, when you visit a Starbucks location you can pick up a Pick of the Week card which will provide you, as a Starbucks patron, with a free download for a specific song off the iTunes store. The card has an image and description of the artist and track you will get and on the back is a code for you to redeem your free download. It’s very simple and a nice treat when you go in to get your daily dose of caffeine! The cards change up about once a week or so, and in recent years the Pick of the Week program has expanded to take on apps from the AppStore, tv shows from the iTunes store and even books from the iBookstore! I always make sure to check the Pick of the Week cards when I am in a Starbucks because although they often put out a lot of songs, shows, apps, and books that don’t interest me personally, every once in a while they will have a free download for something awesome! This was one of those weeks!

The App Pick of the Week was Instapaper, the highly acclaimed app for both iPhone and iPad that allows users to save internet articles for later reading on or offline. It basically caches the website so you get full text and images and also creates a simple but elegant filing system for you to keep track of articles you like as well as those you have saved for later reading. I have been very interested in this app but oddly enough never downloaded it because the $2.99 price tag always seemed a little much and I figured I could save myself the money by just bookmarking articles to read later on with an Internet connection. Then when Apple updated iOS to include a read later function that was similar to Instapaper (but, again, required an Internet connection for use) it seemed like there was no real reason for me to spend the money.

Of course, I never got over the feeling that I was missing something special with Instapaper. It was and is still frequently featured in must have app lists for both iPhone and iPad by everyone from the most prestigious technology magazines and pundits to the mass of dime a dozen technology blogs and YouTube personalities (to which I clearly belong). Today, however, is a new day as I have my own free copy of Instapaper. This is no watered down or lite version either! This is the full $2.99 version with all the bells and whistles and it will continue to be mine through updates and new iterations of the app until the end of time. I know, I am getting ahead of myself here but oh well, I am excited, what can I say?!? Stay tuned for now, as I intend to give a better review of the app after I get used to using it day in and day out. I have already established the link to save articles in my safari bookmarks menu thanks to a helpful tutorial provided through the app itself and have saved a few articles to test out.