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Harry Potter Enhanced Editions Now Available Exclusively on iBooks

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Apple today announced that enhanced editions of all seven books in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling are now available exclusively through the iBooks Store around the world for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac.

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The enhanced Harry Potter books feature the full original text, interactive animations, detailed artwork and annotations from Rowling. There are also exclusive custom covers for each title, custom Harry Potter typefaces and new section headers and drop caps.

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Harry Potter Enhanced Editions are available in English for $9.99 each in 32 countries, while pre-orders begin today for French, German and Spanish versions, which will be available on November 9 in 18 additional countries.
"I'm thrilled to see the Harry Potter books so beautifully realised on iBooks for the digital world; the artwork and animations in these enhanced editions bring the stories alive in a delightful new way," said J.K. Rowling.

"Harry Potter fans are going to love how their favorite stories come to life," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "J.K. Rowling's legendary series is perfect for enjoying on your iPad or iPhone and we're thrilled to offer them exclusively on the iBooks Store."
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Harry Potter digital books were previously only available for purchase through the Pottermore shop that J.K. Rowling developed in partnership with Sony.

Article Link: Harry Potter Enhanced Editions Now Available Exclusively on iBooks
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/08/enhanced-harry-potter-ibooks/
Curious to know precisely what is included in the enhanced editions of these books… I don’t feel the need to buy them again; but would still be swayed if there is an interesting experience to be had.
 
Lostanddamned said:
Curious to know precisely what is included in the enhanced editions of these books… I don’t feel the need to buy them again; but would still be swayed if there is an interesting experience to be had.
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I've updated the article since this comment:

The enhanced Harry Potter books feature the full original text, interactive animations, detailed artwork and annotations from Rowling. There are also exclusive custom covers for each title, custom Harry Potter typefaces and new section headers and drop caps.​
 
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Strange, I was just saying the other day about how the ebook market was stagnating, largely because they've only ever been inferior copies of their physical book counterparts.

This however, is the direction they're starting to realise they should be going - interactive, artfully designed, doing things only a digital book can do.

I don't really care for re-reading Harry Potter, but this could be huge for the precedent it sets for the publishing industry.
 
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Joe Rossignol said:
I've updated the article since this comment:

The enhanced Harry Potter books feature the full original text, interactive animations, detailed artwork and annotations from Rowling. There are also exclusive custom covers for each title, custom Harry Potter typefaces and new section headers and drop caps.​
Click to expand...

Thank you for the update! I may try these out.
 
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Jynto said:
Strange, I was just saying the other day about how the ebook market was stagnating, largely because they've only ever been inferior copies of their physical book counterparts.

This however, is the direction they're starting to realise they should be going - interactive, artfully designed, doing things only a digital book can do.

I don't really care for re-reading Harry Potter, but this could be huge for the precedent it sets for the publishing industry.
Click to expand...

I can definitely see them going back to books that are ~10 years old and giving them this treatment to milk them for more money.

But for new books, I think they'll just keep on screwing customers over with crazy price tags for physical copies. As long as it's a physical copy, customers will assume it's worth as much as they're charging... they see through that BS when it's a digital copy, as if ink and paper are hard to come by.
 
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Oh good! I need to finish reading 'Goblet of Fire' so I can move on to the rest of the stories and find out what happens. Coincidentally was thinking about continuing to read HP again, just the other day, so this is excellent timing :D

I had a Pottermore edition but it was far less seamless to get it working in iBooks and across all my devices.

Have just purchased the iBooks edition and looking forward to effortlessly switching between Mac, iPad and iPhone whenever I feel like reading a chapter.

Also of note: it's a 222 MB download, so that should be lots of additional content. I'm wondering if the illustrations are from the same artist who worked on the new edition of the first novel (published this week)…

(Glad to see the first novel on iBooks with the proper title - 'Philosopher's Stone' rather than 'Sorcerer's Stone'!)
 
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I would just like to thank all of the Star Wars fans who have proven that they will continue to pay over and over for the same content in new forms, with slight tweaks and enhancements being the rationale. Without you guys, these money grabs would never work!
 
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Did she pull a George Lucas in the process? I know Rowling expressed her regret of not putting Harry with Hermione all along in the past year or so. This is her chance to rewrite Potter history! :D

I always figured she watched the movies and it was obvious there (and must have pictured them looking different in her head). I mean looking at Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint as time went on...I honestly thought Harry Potter must supposed to be gay or something to have ZERO interest in Emma Watson (plus they're both the male and female leads, stars and both "nerdy" so they have a lot in common) and I don't think poor Rupert would have a shot with Emma in real life and their character personas had like no sparks what-so-ever. It felt almost as forced as the Star Wars prequels with Anakin and Padme. Oh well, short of refilming the ending for the movie we'd have the same bad ending on film anyway.
 
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"while pre-orders begin today for French, German and Spanish versions, which will be available on November 9 in 18 additional countries."

What exactly is the purpose of pre-ordering digital media? Does it sell out really fast or is it only available for a limited time? I've noticed it quite a few times recently and I'm just a little puzzled.
 
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Fender2112 said:
"while pre-orders begin today for French, German and Spanish versions, which will be available on November 9 in 18 additional countries."

What exactly is the purpose of pre-ordering digital media? Does it sell out really fast or is it only available for a limited time? I've noticed it quite a few times recently and I'm just a little puzzled.
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Pre-order when you notice it (i.e. when it's being promoted in a shop/store), then later it's automatically delivered to your device/account on release date - without you having to remember when the release date is.
 
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Here in Ye Olde Englande, digital book sales are down. Waterstones have removed Kindles because they're not selling.

The fact is, digital books are much too expensive, and these Harry Potter ones are no exception. Real books are tactile, a pleasure to hold and read, and can be given to someone to be read many times over or sold or given away. Digital books have none of these benefits.

The digital revolution is not what it might have been.
 
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Fender2112 said:
"while pre-orders begin today for French, German and Spanish versions, which will be available on November 9 in 18 additional countries."

What exactly is the purpose of pre-ordering digital media? Does it sell out really fast or is it only available for a limited time? I've noticed it quite a few times recently and I'm just a little puzzled.
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It puts money in the bank accounts of the publishers. That’s literally it.
 
orbital~debris said:
Pre-order when you notice it (i.e. when it's being promoted in a shop/store), then later it's automatically delivered to your device/account on release date - without you having to remember when the release date is.
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I've always wondered about the pre-order thing but you make a good point. My argument would be if you have to pre-order it because you may forget the release date, is it really that important then?
 
Interesting - there's no page turn animation (pages slide off to the side instead) and no option to choose a different typeface (although text size can still be adjusted), when reading the iBooks edition.

Presumably because this is an enhanced edition, so a slightly different format from a just-text eBook?

Of note, Apple's book description mentions: "Update to iOS 9 to get the full, enriched experience".
 
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toph2toast said:
I've always wondered about the pre-order thing but you make a good point. My argument would be if you have to pre-order it because you may forget the release date, is it really that important then?
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It's not really that you have to pre-order it because you'll forget the release date, more that you can if you decide "I'd like to read/see/hear that", and then you get the opportunity to do so as soon as possible - without having to give it additional thought.

When there are things to remember on a daily basis, having one less thing to think about is a benefit.
 
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