The Next Keurig Will Make Your Coffee With a Dash of "DRM" 769
FuzzNugget writes "Apparently seeking to lock competitors out of the burgeoning single-serve coffee market, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, maker of the popular Keurig coffee machines, will make their new machines work with licensed pods only. GMCR's CEO confirmed this in a statement: 'The much-anticipated ‘Keurig 2.0’ single-cup brewing system with ‘interactive readability’ (that doesn’t work with unlicensed/copycat pods) will offer such “game-changing functionality” that consumers - and unlicensed players - will want to switch.'"
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
How much "game-changing functionality" can you really work into a fucking coffee machine?
Not DRM, just an old business model (Score:2, Insightful)
This isn't DRM it is just an update on an old business model that happens to use a small circuit to achieve the same result.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Downside : a normal coffee brew process generates 6-12 cups of Joe.
I guess we could all switch to a press ... but that's a bit messy and requires a stand alone heating method (I've not the space to keep a proper tea kettle on my office desk)
Keurig provides a clean single-cup solution
Has anyone ever gotten... (Score:2, Insightful)
a decent cup of coffee out of a Keurig machine anyway?
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't imagine the people using Keurigs are actually saving any money over just going to a place like Dunkin' Donuts.
Keurig machine is about $120. The pods are about $0.65 each (less if you buy in bulk, or on sale, etc.). Small coffee at DD is $1.49. So, you're saving about $0.85/cup. You cover the cost of the machine after about 140 cups, so you definitely are saving money, even more if you're comparing to buying at Starbucks.
Re:Horrible coffee (Score:5, Insightful)
The regular Keurig machine makes filtered coffee; it is not an espresso machine. It makes coffee under pressure - more pressure than a drip machine, obviously, but much less than a proper espresso machine.
Yeah, I used to be a coffee snob too. The convenience of having a fresh, hot cup of coffee within a minute of stumbling downstairs every morning is worth a lot; not having to clean the grounds out of a french press is worth a lot too. Tastes vary, but with 50 or more varieties, there's usually something worth drinking. And, hey, convenience is what sells today; otherwise people would wait to get home to make their phone calls.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
To be fair, i think including DRM IS game changing functionality, just in a bad way. Lets hope it fails in the market and others dont follow down that path.
( I dont drink mud water and even i know this is a bad precedent )
Re:Not DRM, just an old business model (Score:5, Insightful)
Not quite the same thing. This would prevent a 3rd party from making a cheaper cartridge for your razor.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't forget the cost of your time. Traveling to DD or SB and standing in line for a cup of expensive coffee takes a lot of time (depending on how far you are from the nearest location). If you have your own machine at home, you can have a cup of coffee ready for you in the morning, taking no time at all (I assume the Keurig machines can be programmed to automatically brew a cup at a specified time; make sure you put a cup in place the night before though).
Re:Why? (Score:2, Insightful)
Self-Righteous Prig!
I have CFS and need two cups of coffee (morning and afternoon) to function. Coffee is a blessing.
Plus, Coffee is high in antioxidants and good for your heart.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not to mention that the Keurig doesn't make coffee that tastes anywhere near as good as fresh ground and brewed or pressed coffee.
Re:Horrible coffee (Score:5, Insightful)
How about we just skip to the end of the chain?
Unless you created a pocket universe, started a creation event, formed stars from the resulting big bang cloud, fused a solar system worth of hydrogen into heavier matter, collected the matter into a planet in the perfect orbit, formed a primordial soup, created life from the soup, evolved the life to create coffee bean producers, harvested the beans, processed and roasted the beans, ground them, and finally pressed them yourself, then it's not proper coffee.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Does caffeine count as crack?
No electric kettles in the office. Fire hazard (also no space heaters, or various other personal electronics). They probably shouldn't allow coffee pots either, but YOU try to tell a hundred or so office monkeys that they can't have coffee. Good luck. I suppose I could get a nice tea cosy to disguise the kettle... but like you said, then there's the grounds to deal with. Shaking the press doesn't really get much out of it, and the fire marshal REALLY frowns on my compost pile in my office.
Keureg is hardly a perfect solution, but it's self contained and low maintenance.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus, Coffee is high in antioxidants and good for your heart.
You realize that some antioxidants are actually carcinogenic, [oxfordjournals.org] and that increasing your intake of antioxidants may not have any healthful benefit, [harvard.edu] but may in fact be harming you? [wikipedia.org]
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Any computer programmer should also be able to tell you that programming computers requires at least one full pot of coffee, making a Keurig the worst possible solution ever.
Re:Keurig patents expired... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
However, it is neither greener, nor more efficient or even easier really.
The "Green Mountain" in their company names refers to the piles of green dollars that they are making with this crap.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Keurig coffee costs about $30/pound in the local big-name grocery store. I don't know which is worse: DRM or hideously overpriced coffee. I would avoid Keurig like the plague for either reason.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Keurig patents expired... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm really surprised to have gotten this far down the thread without anyone mentioning the parallels to ink jet cartridges with DRM. I'm looking at you Epson.
Re: Why? (Score:4, Insightful)