Interesting...I've had a 1204 for three years now and the original pads in the tray are still mostly white. I can only wonder if it has anything to do with the fact the I always turn it off when I'm not actually using it. Moreover, I never seem to have any of the myriad problems that others seem to endlessly and continually report in these waters.
As a datapoint, the one time I mistakenly left it on overnight with media loaded, I had to wash the heads with many cloths soaked in cleaning solution to get it printing properly once more. So much for leaving it on.