Houston library offers free TV, movie streaming service

Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Houston library offers free TV, movie streaming service 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Houston Public Library card holders will now have free access to thousands upon thousands of audiobooks, TV shows, films, and albums with the hoopla digital web

app, according to a Monday HPL press release.

"We started looking into the possibility of adding hoopla digital to HPL’s services late August 2013," says Sandra Fernandez with the Houston Public Library. The two sides reach a deal in November.



The various forms of media will be made available for instant streaming or temporary downloading, just as library visitors can check out items from a physical collection at a branch location.



Video files can be checked out for 72 hours, music for 7 days, and audiobooks can be out for 21 days. You are only allowed four titles each month though.



The hoopla service can be accessed on smartphones (both Droid and Apple), along with tablets, computers and Apple TVs. The user interface is rather easy and the audio and picture quality is on par with Amazon and iTunes. Not bad for a free service.



Right now you can borrow tons of popular music titles, like the latest albums from Lady Gaga, Eminem, Macklemore & Lewis, and Drake. There is plenty of rock and other genres to choose from, so don't be dissuaded.

If you missed the JFK period drama Parkland in theaters in 2013, you can stream it now on hoopla. Think Netflix, but free, albeit limited.



The most popular audiobooks at the moment are 12 Years A Slave and Orange Is The New

Black, both now critically-acclaimed film and TV series. Don't worry, there are other books that haven't made into movies yet there to read.



The TV section is filled with plenty of documentaries and offerings for kids, and you can even find the UK version of The Office. The section is heavy on BBC series, so Anglophiles will be very happy.