There are many different electronic services to cater to our entertainment needs. Need music? Try Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. How about movies and television shows? There are so many including big names such as Netflix, Disney+, and Max. Enjoy comics and books? There are the likes of Marvel Unlimited, DC Universe, and Kindle Unlimited.
But what if you wanted a service that could combine all of those options? Would you believe me if I said there was no cost either? Hoopla is an excellent app that you can access from your local public library for free. It boasts offering the most content in the realm of audiobooks, eBooks, comics, movies, TV, magazines, or music than any other digital library platform. Since September is Library Card Sign-Up month, here is a guide of everything Hoopla has to offer if you are new proud owner of a library card or unfamiliar with the app.
Hoopla: A home for audiobooks and eBooks
Due to Hoopla’s ties to the library, it’s no surprise that it has a wide variety of audiobooks and eBooks to choose from. Each borrow lasts for 21 days. Read up on or listen to stories from popular franchises such as The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There are also plenty of books that television series and movies are based on such as Three Body Problem, Wool (Silo), Kindred, and Slow Horses.
Hoopla: A home for comics and manga
Hoopla boasts an extensive comics library with books from the biggest publishers in the industry. Explore classic graphic novels to today’s most recent releases from the likes of Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and more. Though the selection is mainly composed of collections, BOOM! Studios and IDW even offer individual issues. A new focus of the platform is to expand its manga options. Currently there are books from Kodansha, Tokyopop, Udon Entertainment, and eigoMANGA.
Like eBooks, borrows last for 21 days. One positive is that there is hardly any wait time between a graphic novel release in stores to when it hits Hoopla. Compare that to six months on the yearly and monthly plan of DC Universe and as early as three months on Marvel Unlimited. The app might not have every single comic you’re looking for, but it has a solid foundation that can keep you busy for a long time.
Hoopla: A home for movies
The movie section of Hoopla will never be mistaken for the popular streaming services. However, it does have films that span the Golden Age to now with a good mix of the critically acclaimed to fan favorites to even some B-movies. There is a nice selection from the 80s and 90s that include Kevin Smith’s works and an assortment of Jean-Claude Van Damme features not to mention an entire A24 section. With Halloween coming up, it is also a good place for horror containing several Shudder Originals. Make sure you act fast because once you borrow since it only lasts for three days until it’s returned.
Hoopla: A home for music
The platform is a great place to listen albums with songs from artists such as Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Taylor Swift. Pop music not your bag? There are so many genres to explore, and take advantage of the greatest hits/best of albums of your favorite bands and solo acts. Surprisingly, there is an impressive variety of original soundtracks as well as comedy albums. Hear stand-up from masters like Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bob Newhart.
Hoopla: A home for television
Hoopla has a quality assortment of television series. It contains many programs from AMC and its umbrella of networks. There are a few The Walking Dead shows available, those from Anne Rice’s Immortalverse, and the underappreciated Dark Winds, Into the Badlands, and Gangs of London. There is a small sample that you can find from Warner Bros. Discovery such as Rick and Morty, Miracle Workers, and Tacoma FD as well.
Feeling nostalgic? There’s quite a selection of Saturday morning type cartoons like Beetlejuice and Inspector Gadget, not to mention many classic Nickelodeon shows like Rugrats and Hey Arnold. There are also deep video game cuts you might not remember such as Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Brothers Super Show, and Captain N: The Game Master. You can even catch anime series including One Piece, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Naruto. Though many of the versions are the English dubbed, you can find a few that are subtitled.
Similar to the movies, television borrows last only three days. Another drawback is instead of an entire series, you have to borrow per episode. As you can imagine, you can burn through your monthly allotment quickly if you want to watch a single season.
Hoopla: Making your borrows last longer
As mentioned above, Hoopla is not unlimited usage. You are limited by the number of borrows your local public library allows, but there are ways to maximize its usage. First off, the app offers a BingePass that uses up 1 borrow for unlimited access to certain content for seven days. It can cover a week subscription to the streaming platform Hallmark+, access to a wide variety of magazines, multiple seasons worth of Pokémon episodes, a multitude of word and number games, and more.
Second, if you find that you’ve used your allotment of borrows, wait until the last seven days of the month to take advantage of the Bonus Borrows program. During this time, a special curated selection of titles across all mediums will be available without using a monthly instant borrow. That can really help get you through until your allocation resets.
Final words on Hoopla.
Hoopla isn’t the be-all and end-all of entertainment platforms, and it does have its drawbacks. The finite number of monthly borrows limits its use, and even bigger, the service is not available at all public libraries. But if you can find access to it, it offers a wide range of options for a great value (It’s free!). And, with features such as the BingePass and Bonus Borrows, you can really stretch out its usefulness.
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