back to article Harry Potter e-books go on sale

Fans of JK Rowling's student sorcerer will be pleased to know the Pottermore Shop - the only place to buy Harry Potter e-books and audio books - is now open for business. It may be behind times in terms of e-commerce - the last book was published nearly five years ago - but Rowling's seven novels have finally made it into the …

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  1. Citizen Kaned

    how much?!?!

    £130 for the complete audio book collection? you can get all the full movies on blu-ray for £50

    even the ebooks are much more expensive than buying some real books.

    one of the world's richest women is milking the kids... badly.

    1. LarsG

      when I die

      I want to bequeath individual books and music albums to various family and friends.

      How the hello would I be able to do that with an mp3 and book collection stored in the cloud?

      Think about it.

      1. JDX Gold badge

        Re: when I die

        So don't buy digital versions you tard. Nobody was trying to make you.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: when I die

          You don't get it fool

    2. ratfox
      Devil

      Re: how much?!?!

      I suppose audio books do cost money to make, and have such a small audience that they need to get the money back [i]some[/i]how...

      That said, what happened to these reader apps that automatically read e-books aloud? Last I remember, copyright owners were claiming this was illegal because it amounted to giving a public performance, which merely owning the book does not give you the right to do. Did that ever get resolved?

  2. frank ly

    I'm not sure about this

    "... but Rowling's seven novels have finally made it into the digital domain."

    A friend told me that all the books have been available for free in various digital domains for years.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm not sure about this

      Several of them were available for free in the digital domain before the print copies came out!

  3. Muckminded

    Marauder's Map App

    Still in beta?

  4. DrXym

    Thank goodness for that

    Because its not as if high quality proof read scans of the books haven't been on the internet for years.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Thank goodness for that

      Even higher quality printed copies have been available from your local library, bookstore and supermarket for even longer, provided you don't mind nicking them. Clearly you don't, so go fill your boots.

      1. Cameron Colley

        Re: Thank goodness for that @JDX

        You tell them!!!! Some kid can't read a Harry Potter book because somebody downloaded it!!!!!!!

        Next thing you know they'll be killing police officers and defecating in their helmets. It's the same thing, after all.

      2. DrXym

        Re: Thank goodness for that

        @JDX I never said I had copies so I don't need to be lectured. I'm just pointing out the bleeding obvious that given the choice between having the book instantly in an open format that many people are going to take that option over waiting some indeterminate amount of time (two years and counting) just for same title to eventually appear in a DRMd format.

        1. JDX Gold badge

          Re: Thank goodness for that

          EVERY book will exist in some dodgy scanned format if more than a handful of people want it. So what? I don't believe that most people would think it was fine to download such a version simply because a legit digital version doesn't exist.

          Those who would get a free pirate version - especially those who would use DRM as some kind of moral justification - would do the same thing even if legit paid versions existed from the start, just as they do with film, music and software.

          1. DrXym

            Re: Thank goodness for that

            @JDX er no. Most ebooks are released day and date with the physical copy, usually when the physical copy is in hardback too. So when one of the best selling series of books appears without an ebook equivalent it is no surprise whatsoever what happens. Moralising about it is utterly missing the point. If publishers want to compete with free it helps to actually compete. Not doing so just see anyone who wants an electronic copy picking it up for nothing. And if you don't believe most people would think it fine to download a version because no official one exists then you are incredibly naive.

        2. Geoffrey W

          Re: DRM format

          The books aren't DRM'd. They have a watermark of the buyers name but they can be read, converted, backed up, transferred to your Amazon kindle library, whatever. All of which is a big surprise to many and puts the big publishing houses to shame. Oh, and its available as EPUB; a nice open specification format. And, by all accounts, there are a lot of people prepared to buy them if the availability of the web site yesterday is anything to go by. Not me though.

          1. DrXym

            Re: DRM format

            Thanks for pointing out they are DRM free. I saw that after posting and messing around with their site. It is to be congratulated and encouraged though the 2 year delay and even the price of the titles now they're here is not to be.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    finally made it, LOL

    Rowling's seven novels have finally made it into the digital domain

    Strictly speaking, "made it into PAID FOR digital domain. E-book piracy has been rampart since at least as long as that of music and this pottery series must be available in every conceivable format, including those long-dead ones, like ".lit". Oh, where is the c-lit satisfaction of the yesteryear! :D

  6. Kimo
    WTF?

    Pricing oddities

    According to the Pottermore site, the complete set in English (US) costs $57.54 and is a 14,830 KB download. The same set in English (GB) is $61.34 for a 8,820 KB file.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pricing oddities

      Does the US English contain notes explaining to the US reader what the words mean? I mean... its not like you can expect them to think and work it out!!!!

    2. Geoffrey W

      Re: Pricing oddities

      The US paper edition had illustrations and so does the ebook edition. The UK paper edition had no illustrations and neither does the ebook. That's the size discrepancy, and maybe the price difference too.

      The US edition doesn't need notes to explain the words; they already changed the words. If you live outside the UK and want to read the original UK version then you're stuffed. Beyond this stupid Geo-restriction, which didn't exist with the paper books, she did a much better job at this than most interested parties expected. Certainly better than the big publishing houses can do. Shame it took her so long. I expect when you have more money than god there are lots of other distractions to fill your time with.

  7. Kimo

    Thanks for clearing that up...

    I would rather read the original text, so having that option is nice. I can live without the illustrations, as I have the movies for that.

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