My iPad: Essential, No; Fun, Yes, but Also Frustrating!

Since I got my iPad several weeks ago, I've been using it around the house a bit. Although I still find myself wedded to the computer in my office for most of my tasks,  I keep the iPad  in my bedroom upstairs near the TV. It has eliminated the need for a laptop up there, and now during commercials, I usually delete my junk email, do a couple of word games, and catch up on the New York Times and Washington Post articles I haven't read during the day.

I also downloaded my first book on the device from the Apple store, and since I have the Kindle application on the iPad I plan to put several more books from Amazon on the device. My family and I are planning a vacation and I want to have a lot of books on the iPad to take with me, plus several print books to pass around. Someone can read a book on my iPad, while I read a print book, and vise versa. I'm hoping it will work out nicely, reducing the weight of print books I take,  but I'll report back to you.

I've also been playing around with some of the apps I downloaded, particularly the Pages app. This is a word processing app that lets you create documents on the iPad and then email them to yourself or others.  I know that hard core Apple users probably don't see anything remarkable in the Pages for iPad app, but I am certainly enjoying the creative aspects this app inspires. I've been "fooling around" with making posters from my photo library using some of the templates, and they've been highly amusing, at least to me.

So here's the thing. The iPad makes me feel more creative, but I keep running into the device's limitations. I want to do more with it. For example, the iPad provides a more intimate photo viewing experience. I love looking at my photos on it,  but when I find one that belongs in the trash, there's no way for me to delete it. I want that option! I need a trash can in that photo app that then syncs back to my computer and iPhone and zaps those unwanted pictures for good.  No doubt I'll have that option in upcoming versions, but for now, it's a bit frustrating.

I also downloaded a few of the magazines that were created just for the iPad, and have found them interesting to page through and read. I want more! And yes, I know they are pricey. I want the iPad version of all of my favorite magazines, but it's not happening fast enough.

And if any of you magazine publishing types are reading this, I'd like to see a comprehensive magazine stand category in the App Store. Am I missing something? Is there such a thing? I want to browse through all the magazine apps just like I do when I'm at the newsstand at Barnes & Noble or at the airport.  Why do I have to look in sports for Sports Illustrated and Entertainment for Vanity Fair?  I have to know what I want to buy to find these magazines.  Frankly, if I had my druthers I'd load up that iPad with so many magazines, I don't have time to read them, and then just take the iPad out and thumb through them when I'm on a plane. It would be fun to go through the new advertising models and follow links. (Well, I guess you can't follow the links on the plane because you are in airplane mode.) Anyway, I hope more magazines come out before my vacation.

[Just after I published the above paragraph--thanks to Precision Media's Bob Sacks -- I learned of a free app for the iPad called MagCloud, that will allow me to download magazines onto my iPad. I will download it and report back.]