The Hoopla about Hoopla (Free Old Movies, TV Shows, and Music)

The Toronto Public Library announced on Monday that they have now joined Hoopla.  So, last night I signed up and it was easy and took about 5 minutes.  What you need is a current Toronto Public Library card, which are free and you are paying for library anyway via your property taxes. You can see a youtube video on what the service is here.  If you don't live in Toronto than you still might have access via your regional library, at quick glance I was able to learn that Hamilton, Kitchener, Vaughan, Guelph, Aurora also offer this service.

Hoopla Title Screen

My Review:

Hoopla a is free and you have to access to Movies, Music, and TV Shows.   Overall, my opinion is the service is just okay, and it could be a lot better with more content.  It is easy to use and it is hard to argue with free. If this service cost $10 a month than I would be truly disappointed.  For further detail I examined each category of content and give my opinion.  Taste is subjective and you may find gold where I find meh.

Movies are Meh.

Well the first thing I did was to scan through the movies and I was not that impressed. This service does not replace Netflix, but if you want to see some classic movies such as Metropolis, The African Queen, Spartacus, Double Indemnity, Serpico, Harvey, All Quiet on the Western Front, etc.  

Hoopla Movie Starting Page

You could also find some great more 90's movies such as Man on the Moon, The Big Lebowski, Big Night, Mallrats, 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', and Out of Sight.  There is an easy search function and it is disappointing that most searches turned up nothing.  For example searching some of my favorite actors turned up little to nothing (ie Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson, Harrison Ford, and Robert De Niro.)  Same thing for directors Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, and John McTiernan.

What I did find funny is the number of just plain funny, but stupid moves you can watch such as Half Baked, Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, Ali G - In Da House, Necessary Roughness, Howard the Duck, CB4, Johnny English, McHale's Navy, etc.  If you want to have a dumb laugh it is certainly possible.

An Impressive Music Selection:

The music selection is impressive and I was to able to find the discography's of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Nirvana, Madonna, Ramones, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, etc.  They also have new albums such as Arcarde Fire - Reflektor, Nothing was the Same - Drake, Beck - Morning Phase, Lorde - Pure Heroin, Childish Gambino - Because the Internet, Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP2, Lady Gaga - Art Pop, etc.  They may not have a large selection of movies, but it appears they have a lot of movie soundtracks and Broadway musicals.  If you had an urge to listen to an album or just wanted to listen to something before you buy it; you can borrow an album for 7 days.

Hoopla Music Starting Page

The highlight for me is the Comedy albums, things you likely listen to just once and maybe again after countless years.  They have albums from Louis C.K., Jim Gaffigan, Joe Rogan, Danny Glover, Amy Schumer, Steve Martin, David Cross, Bill Hicks, etc.  There is easy 200+ albums and these could make a road trip a lot more enjoyable.  I plan to see if I can use Bluetooth to broadcast the audio next time in my car.


 

Television Full of Meh.

Again I was disappointed that you can't find TV series like you can on Netflix. For example you can't go back and watch old episodes of South Park, The Simpsons, Mad Men, Cosmos (the original one with Carl Sagan), Law & Order, etc.  What you do get is a lot of National Geographic Shows, Ken Burns Documentaries, 80's Cartoons for the kids, PBS Masterpiece Theatre shows and travel shows.  Depending what you want to watch you probably have more luck watching on demand shows from the various TV networks. If you are looking for educational/infortainment videos, PBS has its Nova TV show on demand fore free at its website or David Suzuki's Nature of Things on CBC.  

Hoopla Television Starting Page

What you get:

• The ability to borrow on-line up to 5 items per calender month.
• You can borrow television and movies for 3 days, music for 7 days.
• No worries about late fees or returns, as they are automatic.
• The ability to access what you borrowed from both smartphone, tablet, laptop and computer.  You just need to have an Internet connection (with sufficient speed for video).  You can download the 'Hoopla' app for free from Google Store or Itunes store.
• If you are using it from Chrome/Firefox you will need to install free the Widevine Videoplayer App and if you use Safari it should just work.
• An easy way to sort what 'Most Popular' or 'New' to see what other people are watching and the latest additions.

What you don't get:

• The ability to download and borrow an item.  You can't for example borrow a movie and then watch it on a plane or subway, you have to have a working Internet connection.
• Audiobooks - The Toronto Public Library is not signed up for Hoopla's audiobooks, but you can get borrow audiobooks from them via their Overdrive service.  
• It appears this service does not support Blackberry or Windows based phones or tables.  

What I don't know:

• If you have an Internet connection, can you enjoy content from outside of the country?

Comments? Thoughts? or Suggestions?  Did you find something that is must see on Hoopla?