In what could be a real blow to the consumer, Epson has won a lawsuit against generic cartridge manufacturers (http://www.dailytech.com/epson+wins+preliminary+itc+ruling+on+ink+cartridges/article6823.htm). The bottom line is that if this ruling is left standing, all consumers would be forced to pay more for OEM replacement cartridges than they paid for their new printers because all printer manufacturers would ride this decision to the max. While I do not approve of pirating software, this decision seems to me to be a direct affront to free enterprise; since printers are not being cloned and given, sold, or loaned to anyone else as was and still is being done with Windows OS's. Consumers will just be nailed with ridiculously expensive OEM cartridges that are in no way worth the prices demanded. Some OEM replacements can cost around $100.00 for complete sets that have very little ink and whose printers are real ink guzzlers when photo prints are made.
I am planning on getting generic refillables as soon as I can for my printers because the refilled OEMs's do not last forever. The spongy material in cartridges just begins to disintegrate. I do not know how this will affect auto-refilling setups, but I would suspect that they too will be banned. Chalk up another win for the big guys and a definite loss to the consumer.
While I never use generic ink cartridges, this is bad, as the prices will go up on the catriges. Unless the printer guys are really nice!
I have not been impressed by Office Depot's generic cartridges.
It looks like filling a printer up will analogize with filling an automobile up with gas. Either way, it is getting expensive.
Mark H
I realise that this poast is a couple of years old, but I just want to state that every Epson printer I've ever owned has been a complete pile of junk. It doesn't make any difference what the cartridges cost because you'll be wasting so much ink cleaning the heads every five minutes that it costs a fortune to run no matter what. HP printers are infinitely superior to anything Epson has ever produced.
I agree with Chandler on ink jet printers wasting ink due to clogged heads, especially if you don't use them much. That is why I have a laser printer instead of an ink jet printer. Any photos I want to print are done outside of my home since it is fairly inexpensive.
Mark H