From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch
One of my favorite apps was recently updated. When I looked back at the list of Android programs I’ve reviewed, I was surprised that I’ve never written about Hoopla. I remember demonstrating it a long time ago at one of the club meetings, but never in the monthly newsletter.
I like to read. Over the years, I’ve migrated from paper books to books on tape in a Walkman (before I hated Sony), to books on CDs, e-books and finally to audible books. These days, I no longer make my bi-weekly trip to the library to check out materials. I check all of my reading items on line with Zinio, Overdrive and Hoopla.
Hoopla has been around for about a year now. Anyone with a card from a participating library can borrow a digital movie, music album, audio book e-book or comic book. Our parish library allows up to thirty items to be checked out every month. There are no limits on the number of people that can borrow an individual title at the same time. There are no waiting lists, late fees, reservation lists or popular items being out of stock.
Although the user reviews are not high, I have personally found the app to be easy to use. Many of the bad reviews are from users complaining that they can’t utilize the app, they don’t like the selection or that the lending limit has been exceeded. Almost all of the problems are because of restrictions established by their local library and not Hoopla.
Any items you check out are downloaded to your device and can be read, viewed and listened to at your convenience. With a catalog of more than 300,000 titles, I’m sure that you will find something that you like.
To browse all of the titles, go to the Hoopla Web Site. The mobile app can be downloaded at Google Play, the Amazon App Store or Apple iTunes.
If you like to read, listen to books or watch movies, give Hoopla Digital a try. I think you might enjoy it.
Thanks for reading.