Over the last year or so I’ve slowly started using the library more and more for most of my media consumption habits. It’s really nice in a lot of ways compared to the status quo of a plethora of streaming services. I think a lot of people see streaming services as necessary, but I think that there’s a better way. This isn’t without it’s caveats, but it might work for you.

How we got here

In the early years, cord cutting was pretty awesome. Instead of catching TV live or TiVo-ing, you could watch tons of movies and TV from the comfort of your home instantly. No ads even! And a Netflix subscription was way cheaper than cable!

Over time two related things happened. First, streaming services came to rely on original programming more and more. Second, the number of services exploded. Now we’ve reached a state where subscribing to every streaming service costs about as much as cable. And this is seen as somewhat necessary to see all the TV and movies people say are good. Less consequential, but still annoying is that there is extremely variable quality to each streaming service’s actual apps. Sometimes I’ve actually avoided watching something because of how annoying some streaming services are to use. And this is a service I pay for! On top of all of that, what’s available on these services changes quickly and without notice. It’s very frustrating to be intending to watch something that was available on a streaming service just the previous week, but you can no longer watch.

What’s at the library

Many people think of the library as a place where they can borrow books. This is true, but most libraries have movies and TV available as well. Most libraries will have DVDs and/or Blu-rays of every relatively popular movie or TV show. It’s actually surprising how many “streaming only” movies and TV get home video releases and end up at the library. For exmaple, Netflix originals The Irishman and Stranger Things are available at my local library on DVD.

Additionally, most library in the US partner with Hoopla and Kanopy, digital services which allow instant streaming of movies, TV, and music. Unlike other streaming services, they don’t come with a monthly fee or have ad breaks. Instead, they are free but limit how many things you can watch each month. With my library I can watch up to 8 things on Hoopla and 4 on Kanopy each month. This is a good amount when you’re watching movies, but admittedly it’s stopped some TV binging way shorter than I’m used to with streaming services. Hoopla and Kanopy even have apps on major streaming boxes. If you take no other piece of advice from this post, it would be to check these out. These services are basically a strict value add to your life.

Caveats of the library

Playing physical media

There’s reasons most people aren’t using the library every day despite what I said above. A big one is the death of the disc drive in modern electronics. There’s a good chance if you’re around my age or younger you’ve never personally owned a dedicated Blu-ray player. And I don’t either! But I do own a PlayStation 3 and a PlayStation 4 which come with a Blu-ray disc drive perfectly capable of playing Blu-rays and DVDs. I’m willing to bet there’s a good chance most people reading this have a modern game console with the ability to play video games.

There is a bit of a caveat here which is that controlling a movie with a controller can be a bit annoying because of their tendancy to turn themselves off after about 30 minutes of inactivity. If you become serious about this you can do what I’ve done and purchase a media remote for your console, which is available for most modern game consoles for around $30.

Another option if you don’t have a game console and don’t want to deal with an entire set-top box is you can get a plug-in blu-ray drive for your computer which can run you as little as $30. I know it’s not as “cinematic” but in this day and age, it’s downright normal to watch movies on your computer.

One issue I’ve also run into is that sometimes the DVDs/Blu-rays I get from the library will sometimes skip. This hasn’t been a huge problem for me, but it does happen.

The waiting

One unequivocal advantage that streaming has over physical media is its immediacy. And because of that, it may feel like going back to the stone age waiting several days for your library holds to get to you. However, in my opinion this isn’t actually that bad. I noticed that I hardly ever watched movies spur of the moment and usually I watch TV over the course of several weeks or months. Waiting a few days in that case actually just ends up not mattering.

Sometimes for very new and popular things you may need to wait more than a few days. I have waited up to several months for something new and popular. However, I’ve found that the vast majority of things I want to watch don’t fall into this category. An additonal issue that can come up with newer things is that they may take several months or longer to be available physically. This is especially a problem with TV shows. All of this combined can leave you “behind” on cultural moments. Each of us must weigh the importance of that to ourselves against how much we’re willing to pay and how many hoops we’re willing to jump through.

Going to the library

I’m fairly lucky in that my local library branch is a short ~5 minute walk from my house. It’s open Saturdays and Sundays and until 8PM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, making it relatively easy for me to go with regularity. Not everyone is so lucky and the advantages of the library might be less for you depending on how close a library branch is to you, the hours of that branch, and the selection at your library.

Advantages of the library

Selection

As I hinted at above, the biggest advantage of the library is the sheer selection. A good two-thirds of the movies on my to-watch list are simply not available on any streaming service. Services with movies I do want to watch often only have a handful, making the price arguably not worth it. Moreover, I’ve even found physical copies of movies that are simply not available digitally through my library.

Time limits

Especially with streaming services, it’s easy to think of anything as immediately available and then… not watch it for months or years (while the subscription fee keeps getting charged). When I borrow something from the library, I have to return it in a reasonable amount of time. This means I watch a lot more things since I’ve committed to watching it by borrowing it. However, your mileage may vary with this kind of thing.

It’s free

This kind of goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Borrowing things from your library is entirely free, which is the best possible price. You already pay for your local library through taxes, so it makes sense to take advantage of it if you can.

Cutting the cut cord

If you find the library as useful as me, you may start to notice how few things are available exclusively on streaming services that you actually want to watch. There’s probably at least some things though, so it can feel hard to get rid of it. My suggestion is to just cancel the services and only re-enable them when you have a few things you want to watch over the course of a month or two. That way you don’t just pay for it in perpetuity and not watching anything for months at at time.

Miscellany

This post has mostly been about movies and TV, but my library also has video games. Their selection leaves a bit to be desired, but it’s kind of awesome to be able to try stuff out without having to pay a lot of money upfront. Unfortunately I’ve heard many library simply don’t have any video games available, which is unfortunate.

Books are of course available and most library have ebook copies of most books meaning you can borrow without going to the library. Most libraries can be used through Libby or OverDrive apps, available on Android and iPhones.

A good service that I profusely recommend is Just Watch. It’s a free web service that shows where you can stream, rent, or buy movies and TV digitally. It even includes what’s available on Hoopla and Kanopy! Even if you stay using streaming services exclusively it’s pretty invaluable.

Final thoughts

My hope with this post is that at least one other person will learn the options available to them at the library for saving money and hassle over streaming services. I had to research a lot of this myself and–frankly–not everyone is as huge of a nerd as me. Even if you don’t change what you’re doing right now, at least you have more information to know what’s out there.