Harry Potter on Kindle Owners Lending Library June 19

[kennyc]

In the Kindle Owners Lending Library per the notice on the front page:

http://www.amazon.com/

[Jessica Lares]

Yep, am really happy about that. I wanted them cheaper, getting them with Prime instead, what a deal!

[jbcohen]

Did not know that there was a topic out here on this matter. I have gotten a message from the Wall Street Journal that Harry Potter will shortly be available for purchase in electronic format from amazon.com. That said I am not interested unless they meet my price limit $6 and under, I can get a lot of great books at that price so why in the world shoould I pay mroe than that.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Did not know that there was a topic out here on this matter. I have gotten a message from the Wall Street Journal that Harry Potter will shortly be available for purchase in electronic format from amazon.com. That said I am not interested unless they meet my price limit $6 and under, I can get a lot of great books at that price so why in the world shoould I pay mroe than that.

The Potter books have been available for purchase since mid-April and they're not $6. You cannot buy them from Amazon. Amazon forwards you to Pottermore, the only place you can buy the Potter audio & ebooks from.

And Pottermore doesn't seem to understand how to accept my credit card. I've never had any problems with it and checked with the bank to make sure it was okay, but Pottermore refused it 4 times. I had to re-enter the info 4 times to verify I hadn't entered something incorrectly--Pottermore does not allow you to edit an existing card! What crap! Pottermore only allows First and Last names but my card has all three names so it will never go through. No phone number that I saw for phone orders. I was miffed that you have to buy through Pottermore anyway when we should be able to buy through Amazon. I finally gave up and feel that the universe was telling me not to waste time reading Harry Potter!

[salsaguy]

You can listen to this episode of the kindle chronicles to hear his story of what he had to go thru to get the Potter books from Pottermore:

http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/2...rgaret-atwood/

Originally Posted by salsaguy

You can listen to this episode of the kindle chronicles to hear his story of what he had to go thru to get the Potter books from Pottermore:

http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/2...rgaret-atwood/

[EDIT] The guy in the link merely DLed the ePub version and used calibre to convert it. Two problems with that: One it still requires using Crappymore to make the purchase. Two it uses calibre to convert. I refuse to let calibre defile my books. If I convert an ePub I will use Sigil to edit (if necessary) and Kindle Previewer to convert to mobi. [/EDIT]

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I did a bit of research last night and discovered that many USA banks refuse the transaction because it is in the UK and apparently because UK transactions have a high reputation of being fraudulent. My bank called last night to ask if I had authorized the Pottermore purchase because they flagged it as possibly fraudulent. It was an automated alert call, BTW. I never had any problems back when I bought from Fictionwise in France, so I'm not sure why they are singling out the UK transactions.

Another gripe that is prevalent is the bugginess of the damn Pottermore site. I for one have to jump through hoops just to log in as Pottermore keeps forgetting my login information and then refuses me entry. I've had to reset my password twice to enter, but the next time it will block me again. I don't know what idiots designed her site, but they sure were stupid.

My main gripe is that the B#T%H requires us to go to her site to buy the HP books! Amazon should have forced her to sell through them or not have dealt with her at all. I want to use my Amazon account as it is easy and secure and Amazon.com works, unlike Crappymore. I was going to try one of the HP books just to see what they are like, but now I won't. I seriously doubt any HP book would come close to the Tolkien experience anyway, so no big loss on my part.

[Irish Lion]

I haven't purchased from Pottermore, so I can't comment on the functionality of the site. But regardless of what issues may be at hand, I do think J.K. Rowling deserves kudos for publishing the books free of drm and in multiple formats, and Amazon deserves kudos for cooperating with her and adding to the value of prime and Kindle by getting these out there for lending. Stuff like this will encourage more people to take up e-reading and lessen piracy to some degree.

As for only reading e-books that are $6 and under, that's certainly a valid choice. Just don't expect to get many best sellers for that price in the current market, and don't act like authors are doing you an injustice by selling for higher than that. I'd love to see e-books come down in price, obviously (and I expect that they will become increasingly less expensive as the e-book market matures), but there are valid reasons for higher pricing.

[Timoleon]

Originally Posted by jswinden

[EDIT] The guy in the link merely DLed the ePub version and used calibre to convert it. Two problems with that: One it still requires using Crappymore to make the purchase. Two it uses calibre to convert. I refuse to let calibre defile my books. If I convert an ePub I will use Sigil to edit (if necessary) and Kindle Previewer to convert to mobi. [/EDIT]

"I refuse to let calibre defile my books." The words "defile" and "calibre" are not often seen together here on MobileRead.

What is your issue with calibre? Just curious...

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by Timoleon

"I refuse to let calibre defile my books." The words "defile" and "calibre" are not often seen together here on MobileRead.

What is your issue with calibre? Just curious...

Funny, I was curious when reading that comment too, but after reading the rest of their post (specifically "My main gripe is that the B#T%H requires us to go to her site to buy the HP books!"), I am not really that curious about why they don't like Calibre any more....

[mr ploppy]

I thought you had to give Amazon exclusivity to get into their lending library?

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I thought you had to give Amazon exclusivity to get into their lending library?

Nope. The Hunger Games books were in the lending library and not exclusive to Amazon. I wonder if the success that Scholastic had with those might have paved the way for this deal.

[ProfCrash]

Exclusivity gets you into the pot of money for shared books each quarter.

I had my issues with Pottermore but it worked out in the end. I certainly don't like how JKR handled the e-books but I don't think that requires calling her names.

[DreamWriter]

From today's Amazon press release:

All 7 Harry Potter eBooks Now Available in Kindle Owners’ Lending Library

Starting today, read all of J.K. Rowling’s iconic Harry Potter series for free on your Kindle

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 19, 2012-- (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Starting today, Amazon.com customers can now borrow all seven Harry Potter books in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL). The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is a benefit of Amazon Prime membership where Kindle owners can choose from over 145,000 books to borrow for free as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. Prime members also enjoy free two-day shipping on millions of items and unlimited streaming of more than 18,000 movies and TV episodes.

(for eligible U.S. Amazon Prime members who own Kindle devices)

[tomsem]

I don't understand why we can't get the UK English editions in the US (or vice versa). I know: 'regional restrictions', but doesn't Pottermore own the rights?