After seeing commercials for the Kodak ESP-3 printer in the fall of 2009 I checked the ink costs and purchased one. I used it very little and at aproximately 4 months of ownership the printer said it was out of color ink. Even though there was black ink left and it had printed fine the last time I used it, the printer locked itself in standby mode. I found this very suspicious and took apart the ink cartidge to find all of the sponges damp with ink (enough to stain my fingers). I contacted Kodak where I was instructed to purchase a new color cartridge, well the printer wasn't happy and I also had to purchase a black cartridge as well. I also checked into refilling the cartridges and found they are electronically disabled to prevent future use. After installing new cartridges I disabled all color printing through control panel/print options (Jan). March 3rd 2010 I wanted to print two photos and went in my settings to allow color printing. Even though the new color cartridge had never been used the graphic shows that 1/4 of the color ink is gone which is the exact amount of black ink gone. After I printed the two photos it dropped even more and once again I have suspended color printing. It is my opinion that these printers are programmed to report false ink levels to the consumer to ensure the sale of Ink cartridges. The fact that they advertise how they will save you money is a fraudulant claim. After contacting Kodak via phone and email I could find no help on how to reactivate a disabled cartridge if it was refilled or still had ink left. It is easy to see that the printer isnt monitoring ink levels at all or a refilled cartridge would work the same as a new one. After reviewing all literature available at the time of purchase no where does Kodak inform its consumer of this deceptive strategy.