Overdrive and public libraries will begin dispensing the Harry Potter eBooks that were just released today. People have been waiting for the digital versions for a long time and now you can read them for free!
It was confirmed that Overdrive would begin lending out the Harry Potter Books around six months ago. In the last few weeks the company had begun issuing pre-orders to K12 schools and libraries participating in Overdrives content distribution system for digital books. If you are an existing library using Overdrive, you can receive a 10% discount if you are buying the entire series of Harry Potter books for your patrons to checkout. Harry Potter digital books will be available for reading in EPUB eBook format (and Kindle in the US) and MP3 audiobook format. For each unit purchased for your digital collection, there will be a 5-year term from the date the unit is made available for checkout.
So mark down your calenders for March 29th, 2012 if you want to borrow the Harry Potter eBooks or audiobooks from your local digital library!
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.