New York – Break out your iPods: Harry Potter is going digital.
J.K. Rowling, once publishing’s greatest holdout against the computer age, has made all six Potter novels available for audio downloads. In a message posted on her website, Rowling said she was concerned about online piracy, included bootleg editions for which the original text was altered.
“Many Harry Potter fans have been keen for digital access for a while, but the deciding factor for me in authorizing this new version is that it will help combat the growing incidents of piracy in this area,” Rowling wrote.
The digital audiobooks are being released by the Random House Audio Trade Group, her current audio publisher. They can be purchased through Apple’s iTunes store, for prices ranging from $32.95 for a single book to $249 for the whole series, which, according to Random House, includes a “full-color digital booklet” and “previously unreleased readings” by Rowling.
Neil Blair, a lawyer with Rowling’s literary agency, said that there are no current plans for Potter e-books.
Rowling’s fantasy series, most recently “Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince,” has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide in print editions and more than 5 million as audiobooks, narrated by Grammy winner Jim Dale. But up until now the author had permitted only paper and traditional audio releases, making her work a favorite for online pirates, although illegal sales are believed to be relatively tiny.
Helped by the iPod boom, digital audiobooks are already one of publishing’s hottest sectors, with sales nearly quadrupling between 2001 and 2003, to more than $18 million, according to the Audio Publishers Association.
“It’s very exciting that an audiobook both critically acclaimed and commercially successful is finally available to the very broad audience of people who enjoy downloading,” says association president Mary Beth Roche.
