AfterDawn: Tech news

Google blocks rooted users from renting movies from Android Market

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 22 May 2011 2:15 User comments (8)

Google blocks rooted users from renting movies from Android Market Google has confirmed today that Android users with rooted devices will not be able to rent movies via the Android Market.
The search giant introduced the feature this month at the I/O Conference.

Says the Android support page entry:

I see "Failed to fetch license for [movie title] (error 49)” when I try to download a movie.

You'll receive this "Error 49" message if you attempt to play a movie on a rooted device. Rooted devices are currently unsupported due to requirements related to copyright protection.


For now, the issue is not widespread as the rentals are only available to Android 3.1 Honeycomb users (less than 1 percent of all devices) but it will become a bigger issue when the rentals make their way to Android 2.2 devices in the coming summer months.

Previous Next  

8 user comments

122.5.2011 14:35

Then I guess this won't be a service that I"ll be using then. No sweat off my back. If that's how it's going to be then Google should expect very lukewarm returns once this service spreads to more devices. I for one will not give into carrier and manufacturer demands just to throw monwy away on a movie that I can just as easily pay a little more for and own forever, then copy it to my device. There won't be many instances where I'll be watching movies on my phone anyway. For the times that I do, I'll have my own library of owned movies on there to choose from so this whole thing really matters little to me. Haha

222.5.2011 15:37
ps3lvanub
Inactive

Lol... Google do know that just encourages more pirate movie downloads??

322.5.2011 21:22

you think im gonna PAY to stream movies to a 3 inch screen when i have atleast a laptop infront of me.. and a 42" tv that i can stream movies too. "hell no" im not gonna pay.

423.5.2011 00:46

One word. Torrentz.

523.5.2011 09:25

Originally posted by ChiefBrdy:
One word. Torrentz.


One word..........."agreed"

623.5.2011 11:46

You guys need to understand this wasn't google's intention but they know they have an open platform but they also knew that in order to get this service running on android they had to agree with netflix and put some preventive measure for piracy. Sure I'm sure some people will find ways around this eventually but any other business would want the same thing. At least see the effort for trying.

723.5.2011 14:40

Rooted devices with homebrew could possibly take advantage of their streaming service to keep movies. You'd still have to pay the rental fee, which would be more money than downloading a film elsewhere. Unfortunately, then Google would have to face more Hollywood wrath.

824.5.2011 04:53

Google isn't this dumb...they know this encourages piracy just like their cloud music service...but the Music and Movie industries are run by people who don't even want to think about new ways of making money.

The music & movie industries are still making a lot of money, but they are falling fast because of these people. Something tells me that all of these companies will be called, "Too big to fail" when they go bankrupt.

The idiots that are driving the movie industry down are just like those driving down the music industry...people who pay huge amounts of money to make a music video because it is advertising, then refuse to show or post said video because they think it will hurt sales, and then refuse to sell the music videos on DVD because they claim no one wants them anyway...multiple layers of bad logic on top of eachother...yet they still make money; so they blame piracy for not making enough money when they do things that SHOULD drive them out of business.

I used to buy DVDs, but now they are outdated and BluRay is the standard. I would buy BluRays, but the licensing makes this impossible...you can only rent or lease a BluRay, and if I only get to rent it, I might as well just use NetFlix.

I used to buy a ton of CDs...I filled up an entire wall of a small bedroom with disks, stacked floor to ceiling. These days I hardly ever buy music...if it is not direct from the artist or sold by a reasonably competent record company, I won't buy.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 24 May 2011 @ 4:54

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
1 user comment
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive