Google blocks rooted users from renting movies from Android Market

Andre Yoskowitz
22 May 2011 14:15

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.