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Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

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Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#81

Post by brodney »

magic8ball wrote: post #58

To play's devil advocate and stop the circle jerking, let's do an intellectual exercise and try to think about why this might not be the dumbest decision ever. Maybe it could be more than just a ploy to increase sales of 1st party cups. Maybe it's about Quality control. I grew up playing a lot of Nintendo games. SNES. N64. Gamecube. Wii. There was one thing I noticed about it. Nintendo always made the best stuff. The…

Back then it was more difficult to tell the crap from the quality stuff. Crap substitutes don't last too long on the market these days with online reviews. I'm rarely hesitant to buy something with a ton of good reviews, and further that means more to me than would a Keurig Seal of Approval.

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#82

Post by AUmrysh »

kgermino wrote: post #48

>third-party pod refills that often retail for 5-25% less than what Keurig charges How expensive are these pods? I certainly understand going generic to save 25% but a K-cup machine strikes me as a premium product. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'd think the people willing/able to pay extra for a high end coffee maker wouldn't waste time experimenting with generics to save 5% (what, a couple cents a cup at most?).

It's about convenience. Also consider that many workplaces provide the Keurig machine in common areas (kitchens, cafeterias) for employees to use their own k-cups with. One of my former employers actually had a contract with their vending machine provider where the Keurig machines were provided for free, but they were required to purchase a minimum monthly k-cup amount from the vendor.

The reasoning was that "a lot of coffee is being thrown out in the afternoon", so they wanted to cut waste by using the Keurig machine in the afternoon when fewer people were making coffee. When you actually do the math, an entire pot of coffee (10 cups) cost the same as a single Keurig cup. The logic didn't seem very sound to me, and I suspect it had more to do with the convenience of making a single cup and not having to clean up after yourself.

The k-cups cost about 30 to 50 cents each, unless you buy thousands of them.

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#83

Post by PeterisP »

mikeash wrote: post #39
HarryHirsch wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This practice isn't what copyright was intended for when it was written into the constitution. The idea is that copyright is a time-limited monopoly to make money of immaterial property, it mustn't serve to lock out the secondary market for printer cartridges and coffee.

The way it should work is, Keurig should be able to do whatever they want in terms of DRM on their hardware, and other companies should be able to do whatever they want in terms of reverse engineering that DRM to produce compatible products. I don't know if that's how the law actually is, but it sounds like it might be.

In my jurisdiction, interoperability is a valid legal reason to ignore copyright restriction. Actually, I believe that none of the current global copyright agreements would prohibit anyone from distributing products that flagrantly circumvent that DRM, there's only the USA-specific DMCA.

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#84

Post by ssharp »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #22
mikegioia wrote: post #4

I actively try to dissuade people from buying Keurig machines, or any "coffee pod" machine and this is just another reason why. Aside from the fact that the coffee is watery, the pods just add such an unnecessary amount of garbage to something that doesn't need to generate any waste. I think the concept is cool but re-usable pods are the way to go. This is stupid of Keurig.

I waste 7 pounds of petroleum driving to work, and .01 lbs from my morning k-cup. My time has value, and I am not going to waste it greenwashing.

I have a Breville machine that allows you to pour in a heap of coffee beans, and it grinds and automatically fills the filter with your desired strength based on how much water you put in the machine. I believe they also make one that has a water reservoir that you periodically fill and you can just dial in a cup amount and it does everything else for you.

I've been pretty happy with it since I get fresh ground coffee and don't need to measure it. You still have to clean the filter after every use, but really it takes me less than 60 seconds to clean out the filter and fill the machine with water. Grinding the coffee and measuring it out manually was the biggest bottleneck in my daily coffee routine, so the Breville has at least eliminated that step.

Now if I could only plumb water directly to it...

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#85

Post by binxbolling »

jareds wrote: post #46

So what is an option for easily brewing a single cup of coffee without pods that will lock you into a specific machine? The things that I like about my Keurig are that you can get 4 to 6 cups before having to refill the water tank and that it’s easy to clean. While I don’t mind having to throw away a filter I would like to avoid having to refill a machine with water every time I want another cup of coffee.

I'd be interested in knowing of a Keurig alternative as well. I realize everyone in here is saying the coffee is terrible, but frankly it's good enough for me. If that makes me a philistine, so be it. Personally, the convenience trumps a lot of other factors when it comes to coffee.

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#86

Post by thrillgore »

bunderbunder wrote: post #53
brianbreslin wrote: post #3

Didn't their patent on the keurig machines expire recently? These machines were invented decades ago, only hitting mainstream in the last 5 years.

Yup. Hence this move - they still want to be the only ones selling K-cups.

After the patents expired, I noticed that Kroger released their own "Simple Truth" coffee pods that are the smaller, paper-lined ones that you can recycle. Oh, they also taste better than the Keurig K-Cups.

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#87

Post by MSM »

giarc wrote: post #62
protonfish wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the concept of cheap/fast/good - pick any 2; but K-cups are only one (fast.) The cost per cup is significantly more than traditional brewing and I find the output to be undrinkable. There are better solutions. I have a drip coffee maker that brews into a travel mug in about 5 minutes. Are you sure that the saved 4 minutes is worth the extra money and poor flavor?

2/3 of those are subjective and in reality for me personally, the Keurig meets 3/3. "Good" - Keurig coffee is good enough for me. I don't think I have the palate to discern the difference between my K-cup and the $7/cup coffee in the high end cafes. "Cheap" - I don't have the time to prepare drip coffee in the morning (or prepare the night before) so for me it's either Kcup or purchase at work. So Keurig is the cheap…

I have to second the cheap. I can either make a full pot of coffee for ~$2-3/pot or I can make a single cup for ~$.75/cup. I understand it might not be the best bang for my buck but I'm only interested in drinking one cup so it's pretty cost effective in my eyes.

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#88

Post by sixbrx »

lutorm wrote: post #9
mikegioia wrote: post #4

I actively try to dissuade people from buying Keurig machines, or any "coffee pod" machine and this is just another reason why. Aside from the fact that the coffee is watery, the pods just add such an unnecessary amount of garbage to something that doesn't need to generate any waste. I think the concept is cool but re-usable pods are the way to go. This is stupid of Keurig.

I think Keurig coffee is terrible, so I've never seen one of the reusable pods. But what's the point, if you are going reusable isn't it just as easy to make a normal cup of coffee?

I have a Keurig but buy my "pods" from various other sources which are cheaper. I think they taste good in general and are very consistent and quick to make.

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#89

Post by BuildTheRobots »

knappador wrote: post #64
jareds wrote: post #46

So what is an option for easily brewing a single cup of coffee without pods that will lock you into a specific machine? The things that I like about my Keurig are that you can get 4 to 6 cups before having to refill the water tank and that it’s easy to clean. While I don’t mind having to throw away a filter I would like to avoid having to refill a machine with water every time I want another cup of coffee.

French press. 0% packaging garbage, extracts 100% of the good of coffee. Numerous suppliers. Compatible with any hot water devices and coffee packaging. Larger models are easily configured to produce single or several cup amounts. Portable models can get you out the door as soon as the water is hot and you can drink on the way.

This. You can even get travel mugs with the press bit built in. -eg: http://www.bodum.com/gb/en-us/shop/detail/K11102-01/

Re: Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker

#90

Post by BuildTheRobots »

edj wrote: post #68
mikegioia wrote: post #4

I actively try to dissuade people from buying Keurig machines, or any "coffee pod" machine and this is just another reason why. Aside from the fact that the coffee is watery, the pods just add such an unnecessary amount of garbage to something that doesn't need to generate any waste. I think the concept is cool but re-usable pods are the way to go. This is stupid of Keurig.

Chemex[1] is hard to beat. I recommend it to all of my aspiring coffee-aficionado friends. Easy[2], inexpensive, and very high quality. 1: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/ristretto-chem... 2: http://www.bluebottlecoffee.com/preparation-guides/chemex

Shame about the name -makes me think it's something for the car or to unblock a really stubborn drain.
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