Where to get books, movies and TV without Amazon
Free, discounted and feel-good places to get the media you’re looking for — and discover stuff the tech giants will never help you find
Nearly four months in, how is everyone feeling about a no-buy 2025? I didn’t commit to the challenge at the turn of the new year (and still haven’t), but the state of the world has prompted me to drastically reduce my consumption over the past couple of months.
I know I’m not the only one.
Whether you’re cutting ties with tech broligarchs, boycotting Amazon to ice out Jeff Bezos, going minimalist to flex your consumer power or just simplifying because engaging with an enshittified economy has become worse than opting out… you don’t have to give up convenient entertainment altogether.
Since canceling my Prime membership and deleting my vast lineup of streaming services, I’ve been happy to refocus my attention and purchasing power away from Amazon and other tech giants.
It’s been satisfying to move my money in a different direction, but just as satisfying to reconfigure my expectations for entertainment. It turns out buying books and movies from companies that care about more than making all the money is a vastly different experience from wading through an ad-riddled Amazon search or filtering through algorithmic suggestions on my Apple TV. There’s a lot of interesting content on the other side!
Here’s where I’ve been discovering, enjoying and buying books, movies and TV shows outside of Amazon this year.
Where to get books online without Amazon
The online giant has tried to destroy independent booksellers, but they’re still here!
Bookshop.org: This site lets you buy print and ebooks online while supporting local bookstores. You can choose a bookstore to get a cut of your purchases or let it go into a pool to support all partner stores. Bookshop.org is a certified B Corp, and 80% of its profits go to independent bookstores. Bookshop.org also supports independent creators — like me! — with its affiliate program, which lets us earn commissions for book recommendations without sending readers to Amazon. Visit the Healthy Rich Bookshop for recs from our guests and friends!
Libro.fm: Just like Bookshop does for print and ebooks, Libro.fm lets you support indie bookstores when you buy audiobooks. You can pay for a monthly membership for discounted audiobooks or buy them a la carte. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.
Tertulia: Keep track of your reading list, get community book recommendations and buy print books through this online coop bookstore. Anyone can shop through Tertulia, but if you become a coop member for $25 a year, you get discounted pricing. Plus, you’re an actual member-owner, so you get to vote on the direction of the company and get a stake of profits. (It’s not a perfect coop. You’re a member of Tertulia Coop, which owns an unclear portion of the private company; some individual founders and investors likely still profit like any other business owners.)
ThriftBooks: Buy used and like-new print books, including rare and out-of-print titles and textbooks, at a discount. Probably the biggest Amazon competitor (and based right in Bezos’ backyard in Seattle), Thriftbooks gives you the discounts and convenience without the oligarchy or monopoly.
Independent bookstores: Don’t sleep on your local bookstores! Even if you prefer to shop online, many independent stores can ship books to you; check their website before heading to a national site. (If your favorite store doesn’t ship online orders, mine ships anywhere in the U.S.!)
Libby: Download this app for your phone or tablet (including newer Fire tablets) to check out ebooks and audiobooks from your local library. You have to enter a library card number to get started, then books are free to read or listen to! The only catch is availability: Publishers put extra-tight limits on digital checkouts, so you’ll usually wait weeks for a new release or popular title. (I don’t mind this; I just put the book on hold, and the app notifies me when it’s available, so it’s like an assistant regularly reminding me what’s on my TBR list so I don’t have to think about what to read next! It’s also a good excuse to read older or less well-known books.)
Local libraries: An obvious but necessary mention! If you want to read a hard copy for free, you’ll have to stop by a nearby library. Most libraries are part of vast networks, so you’re not limited to what’s on the shelf at a single branch. Check your library’s website to request a hold and have a book shipped to your nearest branch to pick it up.
(btw Thank you to everyone who’s already bought You Don’t Need a Budget through Bookshop.org! My publishing team was surprised by the share of sales coming through the indie site, and that makes me and my little anti-capitalist book so proud!)
Bonus: The book discovery and tracking app Goodreads has been owned by Amazon since 2013. For an alternative, try StoryGraph, designed and owned by a Black female software engineer to meet the needs Goodreads users complained of Amazon neglecting over the years.
Where to find free movies and TV online
All of these are available as mobile, desktop and TV apps.
Kanopy: Sign in with a library card/account, and stream unlimited movies and TV shows for free. (The app has a limited TV selection, but an eclectic selection of “educational” shows and a fun bunch of movies and documentaries!)
PBS app: Stream tons of popular PBS shows for free, or upgrade to the Passport subscription for a wider selection.
Plex: Watch tons of popular shows and movies for free with ads or rent to watch without ads. Plex streams live (appointment) channels, too, with limited ad breaks; not your typical cable channels, but genre-based collections.
YouTube: Tons of creators make long-form shows, so just search for a topic you’re interested in to get started. YouTube is also home to lots of old media; I’m very into music documentaries and pretty much any Beatles footage right now! With a Premium subscription, you can also watch a selection of popular movies and TV shows as seamlessly as with any other streamer.
This post contains affiliate links for Bookshop.org, so if you buy a book mentioned here, you support the author, local bookstores and Healthy Rich!
One good thing about not having a zillion streaming subscriptions is that it takes me back to a time when we simply turned the TV off if nothing good was on. Putting limitations on consumption doesn’t always have to be restrictive, it can open up new opportunities and be joyous.
Hoopla from your library is another place to get movies, tv shows, books, audiobooks, and music! And my library has DVDs to check out, too.