This Coffee Maker Has DRM to Lock Out Competitor's Refills - Update

[Colt47]

This honestly sounds like something out of an Onion article. I've always found those pod coffee machines to be ridiculous (Canadian, for reference), the amount of silliness here seems to be at the level of self-parody. Can anyone owning explain to me what the benefit is from owning one of these machines?

French Press Master Race vs Keurig Drinking Peasants! I sense it brewing...

I see what you did thar ;D

The primary benefits are less clean up and maintenance as well as the ability to brew whatever one feels like when they feel like it. That and it saves time measuring out water for hot cocoa and lets you make instant hot water for oatmeal, tea, etc. I use mine multiple times per day and it really is an excellent convenience device.

The downside to the Pod brewers is that so far only the coffee pods are worth it. They have tea pods and hot cocoa pods as well, but the premium over, say, a tea bag or cocoa packets is nuts. I buy up hot cocoa pods to try out on occasion, but the only advantage they have is maybe the low calorie count: an advantage rendered moot by no sugar hot cocoa from Jewel Osco or Swiss miss (the jewel brand is better, btw).

 

[Cerebrawl]

I don't know anyone with a pod brewer. We have a percolator at work, drip brewers and percolators are the most common here. I barely ever drink coffee at home so I just have a jug of nescafe.

 

[DugMachine]

I got the original Keurig as a gift and it's pretty handy for coffee on the go but if I have time I'll always use my old coffee maker. Those little cups are just too expensive for everyday drinking, at least for me.

 

[Shaolen]

Tassimo already does this with their proprietary "T-Disc" system. Each T-Disc requires a bar code to operate.You can easily defeat this with the "My cup" addon that allows you to use your own coffee, instead of regular K-cups. Also, Tassimo doesn't offer this kind of system to use your own coffee, so people should have been more upset at that like back in 2004, when Tassimo was first introduced.

Besides, there are like 4 different kinds of Keurig machines out there, so if you don't like DRM coffee, just grab one of those.

 

[wulfy42]

Keurig is EVIL!!

Not because of the semi-DRM thing, but because the sneak into your house and slowly take it over, causing you to spend WAY more on coffee then you used to, even if you used to use starbucks in many cases.

That was the excuse for me originally getting our first machine. I would usually pick up a starbucks coffee for my wife on average once a day. We used a french press generally at home for coffee, but if we were running out fast etc, it was starbucks we usually went to.

Well a 70 cent or so Kcup seemed like a more convienent and better deal then a $3.00 cup of coffee.

Problem is, you don't just have one cup. My wife, on average, has at least 3 a day. We live with 2 friends, who between them have 5 more. I am a tea drinker myself (no, I don't use a microwave and never did). I used to brew my tea, but....I eventually succumbed to the evil machine and started using tea kcups as well. They taste quite good, it's instant gratification and less work. I usually have 2 a day.

Between all of us, we go through a full 6 box order in 3 weeks (a bit faster, but thats how often we get our deliveries sent out). That is just about $100 every 3 weeks, or $140 a month. That is significantly more then we used to spend, even factoring in Starbucks...and since it's so convienent, it's not like we are going to stop anytime soon.

I could stop mind you, but good luck getting my wife or my friends wife to stop. Not gonna happen.

So a warning to all you husbands (or wives) of coffee drinkers. Don't go for Kurieg to save money ...in the long run you'll do the opposite. I probably spent $20 a month on unground coffee (ground it myself before making it), and maybe $50 a month on starbucks (max) for my wife. So basically I doubled the amount I spend on coffee by getting a Kuerig.

Add in the fact the machines break down so much especially with so much use. We have gone through like 6 or them at this point, and they are not very cheap. Over 3 years or so, that is another $500 spent on coffee.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Hey, now I can despise the Keurig even more!

The thing gives you no control over the brew, so it always comes out tasting weak. The pods themselves just produce disgusting amounts of waste. Just, ugh.

Random trivia time!
Did you know the creator of the Keurig coffee system was also the mind behind E-Z Wider rolling papers?

 

[thewatergamer]

First off BWAHAHAHAHAHA IF THEY THINK PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BUY THIS THEY ARE INSANE (at least I hope people aren't dumb enough to buy it...)

Second, this is so stupid, because this worked so great for Games right? Let's implement it into our coffee machines...

Yeah I don't drink coffee but if I did, definitely wouldn't buy one of these pieces of shit, what's next? Refrigerators that will only refrigerate "approved" food, and if it scans a non "approved" food it shuts off until it's removed?

Actually better not give these idiots ideas...

 

[Artemicion]

Steve Bogos is my favorite Escapist journalist because he covers the interesting/hilarious articles. This is one of the hilarious ones.

I foresee a rise in the price of the Keurig 1.0 machines.

 

[Atmos Duality]

You know, it would be trivially simple for their competitors to bypass this DRM by just scanning the Keurig barcodes on the capsules and copying them; without a method to update the DRM, it would be rendered useless as a market control scheme within a month, easily.
Which means...

(1 year later)
Introducing Keurig 3.0, the first coffee maker with online DRM!

I don't understand what's wrong with making simple pots of coffee and why these wasteful individual cups are catching on. It seems like a fad to me... but then again I'm a tea drinker, life is so much easier as a tea drinker.

I got a small 2 cup espresso machine at a rummage sale for 6 bucks back in 2008, and it has saved me an incredible sum of money and effort in buying coffee anywhere else.

Why make a whole pot when you just want enough to fill a thermos?
(I enjoy tea too, though it's mostly the instant crap that's available in markets, and I can't quite afford to import anything decent)

 

[Slegiar Dryke]

*reads article, flips table, goes back to his percolator and plans for a decent espresso machine* welp! never getting a kurig now in the the future, good job guys.

 

[Genocidicles]

I don't really see how anyone would have a problem with this, given that the box is clearly labeled 'Only works with X pods'. Otherwise simply buy another machine, they all do the same thing don't they?

Well it sets a bad precedent.

If it sells well then it's likely other coffee makers will follow suit.

I'm glad I hate coffee. Tea is where it's at.

 

[Groenteman]

Drip brew coffee maker forever!

Realy, way to make instant coffee makers even less tempting. Now they not only have inferior quality, pricing and choice, they also got friggin DRM. Its like a console that costs twice as much as a gaming PC, asks a monthly payment to keep working and only takes games specificaly made for it!

That aside, whatever DRM that can be put in a disposable plastic cup cant be too hard to spoof. Actualy kinda curious about how they think to pul this one off. Also would love to see the first coffee maker jail-break.

 

[Mortuorum]

Because it worked SO WELL for video games, right? I suppose if you're looking to lose customers as fast as possible, there is no better way.

I think it's awesome. Most of the world doesn't care about the bullshit gamers have to live with - "oh, they're all pirates anyways, right?". Once some senator buys a "Keurig 2.0" brewer to replace his old broken machine and realizes his old Starbucks pods don't work in it anymore, maybe someone will put an end to these practices.

 

[IndomitableSam]

I use a Keurig, but I have a little filter that you put regular coffee grounds into and then put that into the Keurig and it makes a cup of coffee. Well worth it, as we save a lot of money on coffee as we only use a tablespoon or so of coffee at a time and make one cup, instead of like 1/2 cup or more to make a small pot. Also very easy to make tea with. Each cup takes under a minute. I never use K-Cups.

I think this means the new ones won't let people use the filters in the new ones, and that means I'll have to find a new brand down the line.

 

[Tyranicus]

Im sorry Dave, I cannot brew this cup off coffee...

 

[lacktheknack]

i don't actually know anyone...nor have i in fact ever known that i can remember...who actually owns and uses a dedicated coffee machine.

mostly on account of us having these great things called "kettles"...

is this like some huge "in every kitchen" brand name i'm not aware of ?

...cause if not surely a smart, "discerning" coffee consumer would just buy a machine they can put any coffee they want in ?...

in which case...great move making people not want to buy your coffee machine guys...

We have a Tassimo coffee-maker of this kind. The benefit of these machines is that the coffee pods are easy to carry (say, if you have a Keurig/Tassimo at work) and they take about forty seconds to brew from start to finish.

At any rate, this isn't making me want to throw out my Tassimo.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

I do not do the coffees... unless it's a chilly Starbucks Mocha double-shot...

Vote with your wallet. Don't get this coffee machine and/or buy one from another company, instead.

Or if you don't care, just get it, anyway.

 

[Gorrath]

i don't actually know anyone...nor have i in fact ever known someone...who actually owns a coffee maker.

mostly on account of us having these things called "kettles"...

I take it you're not from the U.S. then. I don't know anyone who doesn't own a coffeemaker. Hell, I have one and I don't even drink coffee.

consumerism gone mad!

anyway nope (Scotland).

round here household coffee comes in a jar as far most people are concerned.
a machine like that is generally seen as an unnecessary palaver.

in america, if we want tea we nuke the water and add a tea bag of desired flavor, and add copious amounts of sugar or artificial sweetener.

Oh don't you go lumping me in with all of that! My tea is all loose leaf tea and my water is heated in a Zojirushi. What's more, adding sweeter is blasphemy as far as I'm concerned. I freely admit though, when it comes to tea, I am a ridiculous little man.

As for coffee, water comes from the Zojirush, beans are ground with an electric grinder and then it's brewed in a french press. These 40 second brew times and pre-ground coffee pods nearly made my monocle pop.

 

[Callate]

I think the argument with printers is that the company is selling the electronics (the printer) on the uber-cheap on the premise that they'll make it back on the over-priced ink.

It's still anti-competitive BS, but at least I get the premise.

Keurig coffee makers aren't cheap. At all. The less expensive new ones on Amazon still sell for around $90. All for the trendy convenience of being able to brew a single cup of coffee from one of those little pods, rather than the [sarcasm]massive inconvenience[/sarcasm] of having to take ten minutes and possibly throw a couple of cups of coffee away along with the grounds and filter. Otherwise (though some may beg to differ), you're basically getting the same coffee you'd get from a $15 automatic coffee maker making coffee through a $1/1000 dollar store coffee filter.

That's putting aside the fact that Keurig isn't the only company making "pod" coffee makers any more. In a fair world, all it takes is one competitor making a similar product available at a similar price without the authentication "feature" to break Keurig's would-be embargo on third-party coffee products.

I'm also going to go out on a limb here and suggest that all it would take to bring the whole "pod" coffee trend to a screeching halt would be for every pod coffee maker manufacturer to add brand exclusivity to their own products. I don't think we would see massive brand loyalty to buying brand-exclusive over-priced coffee products for one's own personal coffee maker; I think we'd just see a sudden return to using regular old drip coffee makers, french presses, and espresso machines.

So in short: bravo on shooting yourselves in the foot, Keurig.