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The Next Keurig Will Make Your Coffee With a Dash of "DRM"

Posted by samzenpus on from the pirate-coffee-is-the-best-coffee dept.

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.'"

18 of 769 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by B33rNinj4 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it really so hard to just grind the beans and brew it yourself? I do this every morning.

    1. Re:Why? by jxander · · 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

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    2. Re:Why? by alphatel · · Score: 5, Informative

      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

      Are you on crack? We boil water in an electric kettle in 2.5 minutes, then pour into a press, and blammo, coffee. Keurig provides stupid, bland, watery goop that doesn't leave you with a bunch of grinds to clean up. However, it is neither greener, nor more efficient or even easier really.

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    3. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Starbuck's Via is also a clean single-cup solution. It is cheaper, smaller and more dependable than the Keurig machine. It is also a format that would be very hard to add DRM, etc.
      Since Keurig wants to punish its customers, I will forgo their stupidity.
      Keurig, like Beta, sucks.

    4. Re:Why? by ynp7 · · 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.

    5. Re:Why? by NikeHerc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Keurig provides a clean single-cup solution ...

      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.

      --
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    6. Re:Why? by ttucker · · Score: 5, Informative

      I brew my coffee in a press every morning. It takes about 3 minutes to boil, brew, and clean, an AeroPress.

      http://aerobie.com/products/ae...

    7. Re:Why? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

      I have not tried the Keurig but other coffee pod machines I have used and owned produce single cups of pretty damn good coffee, complete with frothed milk, and there is basically zero mess. No mucking about with filters and pots and grinding up beans and aerating milk and all that crap.

      Okay, if I could be bothered I could brew a slightly better cup the traditional way. But with pods I have variety and almost zero effort, ideal for work. It's a very small compromise for a very big gain.

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    8. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      One word: Aeropress.

  2. That $30 Mr. Coffee Espresso maker... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That $30 Mr. Coffee espresso maker that breaks down after two years actually makes better economic sense. I amortized the busted unit over two years (sometimes longer) and achieved $0.57/shot espresso. Keurig can suck it.

  3. And just like Sony ... by Jumperalex · · Score: 5, Informative

    they deserve to fail miserably and go down in flames.

    --
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  4. Really? by Spad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How much "game-changing functionality" can you really work into a fucking coffee machine?

  5. Keuring coffee? No thanks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I only drink certified genuine OEM HP inkjet printer ink. It's much cheaper than Keuring.

  6. close the pod bay door, HAL by Thud457 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sorry Dave, I can't let you brew that.

    I'd damn sure reprogram his memory banks with an very large axe for that kind of insubordination.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  7. Re:Horrible coffee by sunderland56 · · 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.

  8. Re:Horrible coffee by Ambvai · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unless you hate the beans yourself and picked them out of the toilet before roasting them...

    Well. You might also have to be a civet.

  9. Re:Horrible coffee by Adriax · · 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.

    --
    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
  10. Re:Horrible coffee by ebh · · Score: 5, Funny

    You forgot all the steps it took to evolve the civets.