Streaming services have taken over our entertainment lives over the past decade or so. Ever since the “cut the cord on cable” movement began, consumers have been trying to find the best ways to watch their favorite TV shows and movies for less than the cost of a satellite dish or cable package. Many people chose to strictly focus on streaming options rather than having a cable box in their home.
This worked well for a while, as the number of streaming platforms was limited. But as the streaming expansion boomed, so did the price of these platforms. Pretty soon, people were trying to keep up with everything available to stream and it was costing them more in subscription fees than a cable package ever would have. With the entertainment landscape as spread out as it has ever been, I like relying on free options that feel exclusive but provide me with a generous amount of content. Hoopla is one of those options.
Hoopla is free for anyone, but there’s a catch
You must have a library card to access it
Hoopla is a free streaming service that can be accessed through your TV, computer browser, tablet or phone. Through the platform, you can borrow titles from your library ranging from movies to TV shows to ebooks, audiobooks, and comic books. Similar to other platforms like Kanopy, this opens up a world of possibilities that are free for you to consume.
The catch is that your library must be a participating partner with Hoopla and they choose how many borrows they allow per month. This is because Hoopla charges each library a fee per borrow. So your library might keep that fee down by limiting the amount of borrows for customers each month.
It is decided by the library, not by Hoopla, which titles are available to you and how many you can access. When you use Hoopla, it takes the worst part of the library and eliminates it. There are no waitlists for a specific title. You don’t have to wait for someone to return something before you can borrow it.
It’s available instantly, giving you immediate gratification (if you’ve actually picked a good title to consume.) All you need to do is link your library card within the system and you’ll have access to titles right away. You don’t have to worry about late fees either because you have the titles for a set period of time. Anyone can use their titles for up to 21 days before they are automatically returned to the library and removed from your account. This gives you time to cancel your other streaming service subscriptions.
You get 21 days for books, ebooks, and audiobooks, 7 days for music, and 3 days for TV shows and movies. This requires you to stream TV shows more frequently than anything else.
The selection through Hoopla is varied
I am always finding something new
What I love about Hoopla is that there is plenty to watch. Does it have the same amount of content as Netflix? No. But do I have to pay a minimum of $9 a month to watch ads with my content? Nope.
Hoopla’s platform is easy to search, as it offers filtering by genre. You can find movies to more easily fit your mood by searching this way. If I want a drama film, I can just click on the drama collection. There are 40 genres to choose from.
Hoopla also highlights what are the new titles that you have access to when you’re using your account. This is true with all the different entertainment options on the platform, such as music, movies, and TV shows. The platform also shows you which titles are popular at that time, so you know what you might be missing out on and what you should jump in to check out.
For example, my library is highlighting Homer’s The Odyssey in preparation for the release of the Christopher Nolan film this month. For those who haven’t read the tale before, I recommend it before seeing the movie.
There is also a vast children’s library to choose from. I don’t have to rely on Disney+ to entertain my kids. I can come to Hoopla and turn on a classic from when I was growing up, All Dogs Go to Heaven.
If you don’t care about big-name blockbusters, Hoopla works well
There are some downsides
You’re not going to find the newest films or the latest seasons of TV series on Hoopla. There is a lot of filler content, meaning lesser-known films and foreign TV series. While some people might be upset at that because they want the shows that other people are talking about, others might like the fact that they get access to shows and movies they haven’t seen before.
When you use Hoopla, it takes the worst part of the library and eliminates it. There are no waitlists for a specific title. You don’t have to wait for someone to return something before you can borrow it.
The platform also lets you access multiple of your borrowed titles at once in your My Borrows section. There is also a Favorites portion of the platform that lets you save titles for future borrowing. You can keep in mind what you might want to watch and view it at any time.
As with other streaming platforms, certain titles do leave and aren’t available after a while. But Hoopla does let you know when and which. If you’re in the mood for streaming TV series, you can use SeasonPass, which gives you one season to watch in 7 days. However, not every series is available on SeasonPass, so you must check out that part of the app first.
Hoopla offers so much for nothing
Anyone who has a library card has a chance to use Hoopla. This streaming service is completely free and gives you plenty of titles to choose from. Depending on how your home library utilizes the platform, it changes how your experience is. I hope you have more than 10 borrows a month to get the most out of the streamer.
