I missed the announcement last week of the title for the final book in the Harry Potter series and, since others might have also, thought I’d pass the news along:
I am so looking forward to this book. A month before it gets released I am going to re-listen to all six of the prior books, to have the whole series fresh in my head. It’s very exciting to know that it must be getting closer!
Another update, and possibly the final word, on the iTunes Store situation can be found here:
Deathly Hallows not coming to iTunes Store
As of Sunday at 11:45pm Pacific, there’s no indication that Deathly Hallows is going to appear on the iTunes Store any time soon. If you don’t see it by the end of the day on Monday, I would suggest that people who want it immediately go to their local bookstore, and folks who can wait a day or two order it from Amazon. Once you’ve got it, use Audiobook Builder to import it manually.
itunes has just removed the complete edition of the HP audiobooks (1-6) from the store. i hope that means they are adding the seventh one as we speak…it should be out within the next day or so i assume.
Has anyone written and asked, and heard anything directly from Apple/iTunes? I wrote iTunes customer service yesterday around noon, but the auto-reply says they’ll respond in 48 hours. If past HP releases on iTunes were day of, what the heck is happening for this one? It’s well past any time difference concerns all over the world. I’m very annoyed — I understand they might be too afraid of the server load to pinpoint an exact time, but at the very least they should’ve made some kind of announcement that it would be a specific day or week so that people could go buy the CD’s if they couldn’t wait. This is ridiculous!
Great tip about the itunes alert Giancarlo. Brilliant solution! Now lets see how long it takes to be released.
Ok we need news, anyone that see it on itunes let the rest of us know!
i hope itunes does not have too much of a delay, as i like the jim dale versions better than reading them myself, but it took almost 12 hours for the _Half Blood Prince_ to appear due to time zone differences and i expect it will be similar for the _Deathly Hallows._
You cannot preorder HPDH on iTunes but you can set an Alert on “My Alerts” which would send you an email as soon as the book is released. Just do a search for any of the HP books and in the right hand top corner select “My Alerts”
I do believe that it will be released the same day at the same time for US iTunes users. 1) Jim Dale finished the recording of the DH more than 2 month ago, which gives enough time to digitalize the book with the expected quality. 2) Usually when a release is schedule for midnight is to make sure that all (at least all US) time zones are covered making it a nationwide release.
@Crispybear: I wouldn’t be surprised if Deathly Hallows wasn’t released on the iTunes Store at midnight Eastern Time; as you wrote, they may have to wait a day, or at least a few hours, to ensure that it’s not released “ahead” of time due to time zone differences.
But, on what do you base your news? I did a search, and didn’t find anything related to the release of Deathly Hallows on the iTunes Store.
Bad News. It seems that iTunes cannot release the HPATHD at midnight on the 21st. If they release it at 12am in NY it would be 9pm friday in LA and just past dinner in Guam. To assure the 21st release and even time it will not be available.
@Kay: Regarding pre-ordering Deathly Hallows at the iTunes Store: I’ve never seen them allow pre-ordering audiobooks. (Then again, I don’t check that often, as I prefer Audible.com for the better prices.)
But in the past, it has taken a week or two past the official release date for audiobooks to appear on the iTunes Store. I don’t know if they will manage to improve that lead time for this very special occasion. I’m not sure what online stores you’re talking about allowing pre-orders. I assume you mean orders of the physical audiobook, on CDs? I am not aware of any store that is allowing pre-orders for a downloadable version of Deathly Hallows…
Personally, I haven’t decided what path to take to getting my copy, but I think Amazon.com is probably my best bet. With the volume of products they deal with, I think they’re more likely to handle the logistics of the shipment, and get me the book closest to actual release. Then again, maybe I’ll run down to my local bookstore and get a copy on release day. It can’t be any more silly than standing in line for an iPhone. ;-)
As much as I admire Stephen Fry as a comedian and actor, Jim Dale is the better reader of the Harry Potter books. I bought all the versions second-hand on CD and compared them directly, not just excerpts. Stephen Fry has the habit to end sentences (especially of the trio) in a higher voice, giving them a sense of urgency or making them sound as questions rather than statements and that even when no opal necklace is involved. I don’t really know if teenagers these days always talk this way but Jim Dale’s interpretation seems to much better capture the actual situation and the mood of the person. While Stephen Fry’s Dumbledore is great, Jim Dale’s is (for the lack of a better word) perfect! Never have I felt an imaginary figure come to life in any audio-book (and I have many hundreds thanks to subscription services) like Jim’s Albus. The more I was devastated when .. well, you all know when. Some criticized Jim not being English, which is not the truth. Just remember the “Carry on …” TV series if you are old enough to do so and you shall know that Jim is as British as they come (funny that he played an Albert Potter in “Carry on Screaming”).
Deathly Hallows and iTunes: I just checked their store and no signs of an option to pre-order it like on other well known on-line book stores. I don’t really believe that this is an oversight or a mistake. I would rather believe that they indeed will not have the audible version of that book (read so masterfully by Jim Dale) available for purchase strike midnight July 21st. May that be due to licensing issues? Does Apple fear their servers would buckle under the load of tens of thousands of Potter enthusiasts armed with high-speed Internet? Or does the publisher fear all-too-soon de-DRM-ed versions on the p2p networks? I for my part would even pay the full price if I only could have it that very memorable night when destinies get fulfilled. Please iTunes, please!
@Julian: A couple of readers have recommended the audio performances by Stephen Fry over Jim Dale. They’re much harder to get in the US, so I’ve only heard a short excerpt (someday hopefully I’ll hear a whole book, and can judge better).
Fry’s performance seemed like it was more understated, and while it was certainly the start of a good performance, and will surely appeal to different sensibilities, personally I’m sticking with Dale. Perhaps I’ve spent far too many hours with Jim Dale’s voice, and it’s just how I hear Harry and the rest. I also liked the greater energy that Dale seemed to bring to the performance, I thought that was appropriate for the Harry Potter books (where it might be grating on other material).
To each his own.
Get the Stephen Fry version he is so much better than Jim Dale
@Judy: Historically the Jim Dale recordings have been available simultaneously with the printed book. You’re right that a release date isn’t yet confirmed, but the HP series are the best selling audiobooks of all time, and a large part of the success is from synchronized release with the book (because we HP fans cannot wait extra days, we’d probably sit with a paper book if we had to!).
No guarantee, of course, but I am certainly hoping for it. And I’ll be sure to post when I learn more…
The question I can’t seem to find an answer to is whether the Jim Dale version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be available AT ALL at the same time as the release of the book. The UK version read by Stephen Fry has been announced and it WILL BE available, but absolutely NO word from ANYBODY; Schoolastic, Audiobooks, Arthur Levine, Jim Dale, Random House…nobody … has announced whether this audio book will be (a) available for purchase 0001 7/21/07 or (b) a release/publication date.
Anybody know?
@Lincoln: Good question about the iTunes Store. I am assuming the answer is yes, but I don’t think we’ll know more until the date gets closer. Historically, the audiobooks have been available simultaneously. That and Jim Dale’s narration are the reasons the Harry Potter books are the top-selling audiobooks of all time.
But it remains to be seen if the iTunes Store will continue to have an exclusive on the books, or if they will be able to get a “master” copy prior to release so that they can digitize it and do quality control on the files, etc., which would be required to have it available on the first day. There’s a lot to do to put the book online, and Scholastic has always been very, very strict and careful about not letting the book get out early, in any form. And in general, I think the online recordings of audiobooks usually lag the physical recording’s release by a couple weeks.
I really like the audiobooks, i put in long hours at my computer and dont have alot of time for reading – so these often get me through a long work week.
Will itunes have the deathly hallows audiobook on the same day as everyone else? Ive beens saving an itunes giftcard for this?
Just thought I’d post to let you know that Brilliance Audio has started podcasting again. The podcast is called Brilliance Bits. It’s available at iTunes or directly at http://www.brillianceaudio.com/podcasts
I’m really jazzed about this, too. I listened to all the previous books starting about this time last year, so by Spring it should be time to (as you say) listen to them all again.
The rumor I heard a while back is that it’ll be released on 7/7/2007.