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All 7 'Harry Potter' books come to Kindle Owners' Lending Library

Starting today, Amazon customers can now borrow all seven Harry Potter books in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
2 min read
Harry Potter titles are now available. Amazon

As promised, all seven "Harry Potter" books are now available in Amazon's Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

Amazon announced last month that it had inked an exclusive licensing deal with J.K. Rowling's Pottermore to make all seven "Harry Potter" books available through its lending library. The books are available to Kindle owners who also subscribe to Amazon Prime. Amazon promises an unlimited supply of the books, so users won't find a book checked out.

"Nowhere else can customers borrow any of the seven Harry Potter books for free, with an unlimited supply of each title and no waiting list," Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content, said today in a statement.

Amazon says that customers will only be able to have one book out at a time, but as soon as they send one back, they can pick up the next title in the series. In addition, Amazon has said that each title will offer users the chance to buy or re-borrow them.

When Amazon announced its partnership with Pottermore, the company made it clear that it made a "significant investment" in the "Harry Potter" series. Exactly how significant, however, has not been made public. Still, Pottermore was exclusively selling "Harry Potter" titles at the time, and certainly wouldn't have given up that key revenue opportunity without a major cash outlay.

"The way the deal is structured means that any lost sales are more than made up for," Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne said last month in an interview with PaidContent. "Yes, some people will borrow from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library and therefore not buy, but Amazon is paying us a large amount of money for that right, and I believe it's a commercial deal that makes sense."

Pottermore sells the series for between $7.99 and $9.99 for the individual e-books.

With the addition of the "Harry Potter" series, Amazon's Lending Library now boasts over 145,000 books, including more than 100 current and former New York Times bestsellers.