Help K1 - Market App Missing Movies and Music

[ouch1976]

Am I missing something or does the Android Market on the K1 not offer Movies and Music? I have tabs for Apps and Books, but there is no way to rent movies nor buy songs through the market. As a work-around, I can go to market.android.com and rent movies and buy music, but for some reason it's not available within the Market App. Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?


Just so you know, I have a new K1, I've run all the system updates, and I'm not rooted.


Thanks in advance.

 

[MPWheeler]

I used the Android Market app and see your problem. No tabs to rent movies and music. This is why I don't like this app.

Instead go to the Android Market using the web browser. At the top of the page are options for music and movies. I wonder how much money the Market lost over the holidays since their are no tabs for movies and music. Go figure.

 

[ouch1976]

Yeah. I've discovered that this is a known issue, but it doens't appear that Lenovo is doing anything about it. Check out this forum:

IdeaPad's Android Market App Isn't Certified - Lenovo Community

It's really disappointing and I'm on the verge of returning my K1. My review for the product has now dropped from 4 out of 5 stars, to 3 out of 5. I use the Market extensively on my phone and would love to have the same features on the tab. Without a full Market and no indication of Ice Cream Sandwich, the K1 is losing it's luster for me.

 

[MPWheeler]

I found out from the Lenovo forum that the reduced Android Market functions were a Lenovo implementation. They want you to use the mSpot app to purchase music and the mSpot Movie to rent movies. They would prefer you to use the Lenovo App Shop over the Android Market. That's why they are missing from their scaled down version of the Market app. I'm sure the parties involved are making money off this private arrangement.

You can download a new version of the Android Market 3.4.4 from here:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/12/14/download-android-market-3-4-4/#download

You will have 2 versions of the Android Market on the K1. With this version you can purchase music, but renting movies is still missing. I still prefer going into the Android Market using the web browser. You sign into your account and everything there and functional. This circumvents Lenovo forcing you to do things their way.

As for Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0 for the K1, it may or may not happen. If Lenovo discontinues the K1 it will probably not happen. They will put their energy in their next generation of tablets. This may be why they dropped the price on the K1 from $499 to $299. They don't plan on supporting ICS on the K1. If it stays in production for a while then we will have a chance. This is all speculation on my part. It is my experience that once an item goes out of production support and new functions disappear. If Lenovo wants us to become return customers they will give us ICS. I won't buy another Lenovo tablet if ICS is not offered as an upgrade on the K1.

But for $299 I guess I can live with Honeycomb. All I use the tablet for is surfing the web and playing non complex games. I have also figured out how to stream TV and movies from my pc to the tablet. I'm loving my K1 so far and plan on keeping it.

If you have to have ICS then take the K1 back. You won't get a new 10.1 tablet with ICS for $299. As for the Market problem use the browser.