Pottermore

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice took on Apple and publishers over charges of e-book price fixing. Depending on what you read, those parties are either guilty as charged or are the only thing holding back the greater evil of Amazon.com. I don't know who's right. I do know, however, that the e-book model itself feels pretty broken.

Over the past few years, I've gone from paying $7 for paperback novels that I could read anywhere, lend to others, or even resell, to paying $10 for the novels in e-book format with none of … Read more

Pottermore has finally opened its gates, allowing Harry Potter fans to enter the previously forbidden and potentially forboding Web site.

Initially available for just a select number of users, the site is now inviting anyone to register to gain access. The process may be slow, however. A Pottermore insider blog explained that it plans to activate a steady stream of registrations but said that people may not get access right away

Potter fans can currently find both e-books and audiobooks of all seven books in the series.

But full access to the site will offer more, including interactive tours of … Read more

Wizards and muggles alike can now buy and download digital versions of their favorite Harry Potter books.

Starting today, the Pottermore Web site shop is conjuring up all seven Harry Potter titles in digital format, beginning with "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" and ending with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The first three titles in the series are $7.99 apiece, while the other four will run $9.99 each. Capturing the entire collection will cost you $57.54. Free samples of each book are also available so you can try before you … Read more

Amazon Kindle readers will not be left out of the "Harry Potter" series when it begins arriving in digital format for e-readers later this year.

Amazon officials told TechCrunch that it is working with Pottermore, the Web site set up to distribute the digital version of the books for e-readers.

Yesterday, Google announced it that it would be getting the "Harry Potter" e-books for its Google Books platform. Google said it is also working with Pottermore.

Some reports speculated based on the Google announcement that Amazon's Kindle might be left in the cold with no … Read more

The long wait for Harry Potter in digital format is coming to a close.

Author J.K. Rowling announced today that her series will finally be available as e-books. Though pricing hasn't been revealed, the titles will be available in a new online world developed around the series called Pottermore, which was also unveiled today.

To say that the Harry Potter series has become an international mega-hit would be an understatement. About 450 million Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide since the first of seven novels was published in 1997. The series has broken box-office records too, with … Read more