Harry Potter

This article is about the Harry Potter series.

Harry Potter is the name of a popular series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K.Rowling. Six of seven planned books have been published todate, not including the two school books, Quidditch Through the Ages andFantastic Beastsand Where to Find Them. These two are supposed to be two ofthe school books in the seven original books. The books depict aworld of witches and wizards, the main character being a young wizardnamed Harry Potter. The first novel,Harry Potter andthe Philosopher's Stone (retitled Harry Potter and theSorcerer's Stone in the UnitedStates), was released in 1997. The first four books have been madeinto films, and the fifthmovie has begun filming (February 2006), with anexpected release in 2007.

Rowling wrote the last chapter of the seventh book some timeago, before writing the third book (as she mentioned in aBiography TV interview). Rowling has also mentioned that thelast word of the book would be "scar," which remains to be seen.However, she is unsure whether that will be in the final draft inthe book, as she was asked about it in an interview conducted byfan sites Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron.

The Harry Potter books have achieved a profile unparalleled byany other series of books, with worldwide sales exceeding 300million copies. They have been praised for encouraging children andindeed even adults to read more, while also drawing criticism fromsome quarters. The books are published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc(original; distributed in the UK and other Commonwealth countriesexcept Canada), Scholastic Press (US edition;distributed in the United States) and Raincoast Books (original; distributed inCanada).

Overview

Publishing history

The books have fans of all ages. J. K. Rowling says she didnot have any particular age group in mind when she started to writethe Harry Potter books; her publishers, however, initiallytargeted them at young readers aged 8 to 15. The books have morerecently been released in two editions, one with the original"children's" cover artwork, and one with artwork more consciouslyaimed at adult readers. Additionally, as the series has developed,Rowling's writing has become more sophisticated and the content ofthe books has matured as the lead character, Harry Potter, hasgrown older. For instance, relationships are discussed as an issuefor the teenage characters in later books. Accordingly, the readingage for the books, both in terms of content and style, is rising asthe series goes on.

The first book was published in the UnitedKingdom by Bloomsbury, a fairly smallindependent publisher, in July 1997. Its initial success was basedon some positive reviews and word of mouth. The first three books,Harry Potter andthe Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter andthe Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter andthe Prisoner of Azkaban, all won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for the9 to 11 age group. By the time the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Gobletof Fire, was published in 2000 the series had become veryhigh-profile, and the launch received much wider publicity in thegeneral media than was usual for a new book. At around the sametime Warner Brothers began work on the series offilms based on the books. The involvement of a global mediaconglomerate led to more concerted efforts to maximise the value ofthe Harry Potter franchise. The first film, based on the firstbook, was released in 2001, and was accompanied by video games andother branded merchandise.

The hype escalated with the publication of the next two books inthe series, Harry Potter andthe Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and theHalf-Blood Prince, with midnight launch parties at hundredsof bookshops in the UK, simultaneous launch events around theEnglish-speaking world, and intense media interest, leading tounprecedented first-day sales in the UK, US and elsewhere. Theseries is immensely popular around the world in its manytranslations. Such was the clamour to read the book around theworld that the English-language edition of Order of thePhoenix became the first English-language book ever to top thebookseller list in France.

According to J.K. Rowling, the author of the novels, the maincharacter Harry Potter appeared in her head while she was on atrain from Manchester to London in 1991.Her favourite place to write the first book was at an Edinburghcafé table while drinking endless cups of coffee. Sales from thebooks as well as royalties from films and merchandise have madeRowling a billionaire and the 620th wealthiest person in the world. Rowling is assumed to be richer thanQueen Elizabeth II(see J.K. Rowling for an explanation).

Each book chronicles approximately one year in Harry's life atthe Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where helearns to use magic and brew potions. Harry also learns toovercome many obstacles — magical, social and emotional — as hestruggles through his adolescence.

Rowling has announced that seven books are planned, each alittle darker than its predecessor as Harry ages and his nemesis,Lord Voldemort, gains power. As of July 162005, six books have been published. The latest, Harry Potterand the Half-Blood Prince, was published in itsEnglish-language version on 16 July 2005. Since the publication of book five, Rowlinghas revealed hints about the plot of future books on her personalwebsite.

Content and writing style

The books are written in third person omniscientmode, with Harry as the central character. The books are generallywritten from Harry's point of view, but with exceptions inPhilosopher's Stone, Goblet of Fire and Half-BloodPrince. Although Rowling's shifting of perpective at times hasproven essential to plot development, the telling of most of thestory from Harry's perspective is one of many reasons that readersidentify so well with the title character.

Rowling's main strengths as a writer include her ability todrive elaborate and largely seamless plots over a very widecanvas, the convincing internal logic of her fantasyworld. However, while there is much moral subtletyin many scenes in the books, the central clash between good andevil is drawn in largely black-and-white terms. Nevertheless, asthe series develops, several characters have faced a choice betweendoing what is right or what is easy (a central theme), and moral"shades of grey" have been presented. This is especially relevantto characters such as Dolores Umbridge, some Ministry of Magic employees and SeverusSnape.

Rowling lets the ideas of racism, genocide, anti-establishment and prejudicefind their way in; these are the trademark of Voldemort and hisDeath Eaters, but also occasionally shown in the relationshipbetween wizards, the non-magical (or "Muggle")population, and magical creatures in the wizarding world whocontain some prejudicial baggage, such as werewolves, house elves,giants and centaurs (branded 'half-breeds' by the more bigoted ofthe wizarding world).

The books have been compared to many well-known works, includingC.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia andJ. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. They alsofit into a British genre of novels about boarding school life (such as ThomasHughes's Tom Brown's Schooldays), andsections involving the Dursleys, Harry's relatives, are reminiscentof the works of Roald Dahl. Echoes of Charles Dickens, particularly in the namingof characters, and Douglas Adams have been pointed out byother readers. At root, Harry's origin story is a mythicalarchetype known around the world: the destined hero sent away as ababy for safekeeping and raised by common folk until he is of anage where he can be told who he really is and what he must do (amotif most famously epitomised in the myth of Oedipus).Readers who are unfamiliar with traditional cultural myths willstill recognise the theme; it is the basis for Star Warsand Superman, among others, (the underdog who must cometo realize his full potential and fight the corrupted forces ofevil).

Aspects of the Harry Potter series have even entered thereal world, such as Bertie Bott's Every FlavourBeans, which inspired an actual product of that name marketedby the Jelly Belly Company. The product, named "BertieBott's Beans", contains an assortment of twenty different kinds ofjelly beans that have been developed to mimic flavours found in theassortment of similar name in the book series, includingtooty-frooty, dirt, bubblegum, snot, grass, and the surprisinglyrealistic "vomit" flavour. Also, knittingpatterns have been created for the QuidditchSweater and Elf Socks.

The series

The books

1. Harry Potter andthe Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer'sStone in the United States)
   
   
   • Story timeline: 1981, 1991 to 1992
   
   
   • Release date: 26 June 1997 (UK); 1 September, 1998 (US)
   
   
   • US sales: 17 Million. Hardcover 6.1 million, Paperback 10.9million
   
   
   
   


2. Harry Potter andthe Chamber of Secrets
   
   
   • Story timeline: 1943, 1992 to 1993
   
   
   • Release date: 2 July, 1998 (UK); 2 June, 1999 (US)
   
   
   • US sales: 14.7 million. Hardcover 7.3 million, Paperback 7.5million
   
   
   
   


3. Harry Potter andthe Prisoner of Azkaban
   
   
   • Story timeline: 1993 to 1994
   
   
   • Release date: 8 July, 1999 (UK); 8 September, 1999 (US)
   
   
   • US sales: 12.8 million. Hardcover 7.6 million, Paperback 5.2million
   
   
   
   


4. Harry Potter and the Gobletof Fire
   
   
   • Story timeline: 1944, 1994 to 1995
   
   
   • Release date: 8 July, 2000 (UK/US)
   
   
   • US sales: 12.3 million. Hardcover 8.9 million, Paperback 3.4million
   
   
   
   


5. Harry Potter andthe Order of the Phoenix
   
   
   • Story timeline: 1976, 1995 to 1996
   
   
   • Release date: 21 June, 2003 (UK/US)
   
   
   • US sales: 13.7 million. Hardcover 12.2 million, Paperback 1.5million. 5 million in first 24 hours, initial printing 8.5 millioncopies.
   
   
   
   


6. Harry Potter and theHalf-Blood Prince
   
   
   • Story timeline:1926, 1937, 1960, 1970, 1996 to 1997
   
   
   • Release date: 16 July, 2005 (UK/US)
   
   
   • US Sales: 20 million. 7 million in 24 hours, initial printing10.8 million copies.
   
   
   
   


7. Title unknown
   
   
   • Story timeline: 1997 to ???? (possibly 1998)
   
   
   • Release date: Unannounced
   
   
   
   

As of 1 January 2006, over three hundred million (300,000,000)copies of Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide.

The books have become popular enough that bookshops worldwidenow hold simultaneous "release parties" on the day HarryPotter books are released, since the earliest time the bookscan be sold at retail is 12:01 a.m. GMT or BST (or the equivalentlocal time at the point of sale).

The Harry Potter books have been translated into manylanguages. For the English language, there exists an adaptedAmerican English version of each book, with lexical changes like"football" to "soccer", "video recorder" to "VCR", "do his nut" to"go ballistic" and "rubbish bin" to "trash can" and spellingchanges like "defence" to "defense".

In 2001, two slim spin-off volumes called Fantastic Beastsand Where to Find Them by NewtScamander and Quidditch Through the Ages byKennilworthyWhisp were published. Fantastic Beastsand Where to Find Them was intended as a reproduction of aHogwarts textbook owned by Harry, complete with notes scribbled inthe margins by Harry and his friends, while Quidditch Through the Ages issupposed to be a reproduction from the copy at Hogwarts's library.These were written by J. K. Rowling with proceeds going to ComicRelief.

Regarding the existence of Harry Potter novels beyond theseventh, Rowling has said that she might write an eighth book someday. If she does, she intends it to be a sort of encyclopædia ofthe wizarding world, containing concepts andsnippets of information that were not relevant enough to thenovels' plots to be included in them. She has also said that shewill not write any sort of "prequel" to the novels, since by the time theseries ends all the necessary back story will have been revealed.It is currently unknown, despite rumours, if Rowling will allowother authors to write novels set in the Harry Potter Universe notconcerning Harry.

The films

further information: Harry Potter cast

1. HarryPotter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and theSorcerer's Stone in the United States)
   
   
   • Release: 16 November 2001
   
   
   • Director: Chris Columbus
   
   
   
   


2. Harry Potterand the Chamber of Secrets
   
   
   • Release: 15 November 2002
   
   
   • Director: Chris Columbus
   
   
   
   


3. HarryPotter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
   
   
   • Release: UK: 31 May 2004, USA: 4 June
   
   
   • Director: Alfonso Cuarón
   
   
   
   


4. Harry Potter andthe Goblet of Fire
   
   
   • Release: 2005; Philippines and Indonesia:16November; Singapore, Malaysia, Sweden: 17November; UK, USA, and other countries: 18November; Australia: 1December; Hong Kong: 22December; Russia: 23 December
   
   
   • Director: Mike Newell
   
   
   
   


5. HarryPotter and the Order of the Phoenix
   
   
   • Release: 2007
   
   
   • Director: David Yates
   
   
   
   


6. Harry Potterand the Half-Blood Prince
   
   
   • Release: Unknown
   
   
   • Director: Unknown
   
   
   
   


7. Harry Potter 7 (title unknown)
   
   
   • Release: Unknown
   
   
   • Director: Unknown
   
   
   
   

The first movie (The Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer'sStone) is the most successful at #3 for all-time worldwide boxoffice, then Goblet of Fire at #8 (may change), Chamberof Secrets at #9, and Prisoner of Azkaban at #16.

Controversy

The books have provoked various kinds of controversy.

Accusations of promoting the occult

Some religious groups have attacked the books for allegedlypromoting witchcraft or undermining Islam and Christianity. Most ofthis controversy has occurred in the parts of the United Stateswhere religion plays a prominent role in public life. Some claimthat children who read the books may begin to view the miracles ofGod as simply another form of magic. In the UnitedKingdom, Harry Potter's country of origin, the controversy hasbeen minor.

According to the American Library Association,the Harry Potter novels have been among the 100 most frequentlychallenged in United States libraries between 1990-2000. Thecomplaints allege that the books have occult or Satanicthemes, are violent, and are anti-family.

Some highly conservative Christian groups in the UnitedStates have denounced the series for promoting witchcraftand Satanism. "It contains some powerful and valuablelessons about love and courage and the ultimate victory of goodover evil," said Paul Hetrick, spokesman for Focus on the Family, a national Christiangroup based in Colorado Springs. "However, thepositive messages are packaged in a medium — witchcraft — that isdirectly denounced in Scripture." . The official exorcist ofRome, Father Gabriele Amorth, believes that theHarry Potter books can be a bad influence on some children bygetting them interested in the occult (seeChristian views onwitchcraft).

Chick Publications produced a comic booktract called "The Nervous Witch" abouttwo teenaged girls who get seriously involved in occult witchcraftand become demonically possessed as a direct result of readingHarry Potter books.

It has been argued that when Pope Benedict XVI was Prefect of theCongregation forthe Doctrine of the Faith he also condemned the books in aletter expressing gratitude for the receipt of a book on thesubject, stating they are "a subtle seduction, which has deeplyunnoticed and direct effects in undermining the soul ofChristianity before it can really grow properly." (It can be noted here Pope John Paul II was reputed to like HarryPotter and also promoted it; see further down.) However, noevidence is provided that those "they" which are "a subtleseduction" actually refer to the Harry Potter books, nor is this atall clear from the original German text of the Cardinal's letter,which in any case shows signs of being dashed off in rather ahurry. Monsignor Peter Fleetwood, a Vatican priest, wrote thatthese remarks were misinterpreted, and that the letter was likelyto have been written by an assistant of the then-cardinal. . Indeed, the letter appears to have been writtenby an underling, but was issued under the Cardinal's signature.This letter and a second that allowed publication of the first havebeen posted to the Internet by Gabriele Kuby, who had sent herbook, Harry Potter - Good or Evil, attacking J.K. Rowling'sbest-selling series about the boy wizard, to the Cardinal.

However, other Christian readers have pointed out themes in theHarry Potter books which reflect values exemplified or preached byJesus. LilyPotter sacrificed her own life to save her child (John 15:13). Harry'sMuggle guardians attempt to keep him from knowing of his gifts, yethe is taken away and sent to learn to use his powers responsibly(Matt. 5:13–16).Harry comes close to death in several stories, yet is moredetermined than ever to fight evil. It is also said in the booksthat love is the strongest magic (1 Cor 13:13). Some Christianbookstores even sell the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling is onrecord saying she did not emphasise Christian ideals in the bookbecause her goal was never to preach or dictate a philosophy oflife, but to tell a story; besides, if she had, intelligent readerswould be able to guess important plot details.

Other members of the Catholic Church gave the series theirapproval, saying that it is imbued with Christian morals, and thatthe good versus evil plot is very clear. The late Pope, Pope John Paul II, praised the books fortheir message about the evils of racism and genocide. ChristianCongregationalist minister John Killinger also argued thatrather than corrupting children's minds, the novels encourage youngreaders to follow the teachings of Jesus. The bookThe Hidden Key to Harry Potter: Understanding the Meaning,Genius, and Popularity of Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter Novels,written by John Granger, a Reader in the Orthodox Church, claims to uncover Christianthemes in its analysis of the story. Granger also cites the factthat Rowling is a professed member of the presbyterian Church of Scotland.

The controversy was spoofed on the television show TheSimpsons. In one episode, the Simpson's neighbor, anultra-Christian Ned Flanders "reads" Harry Potter to ToddFlanders and says, "And Harry Potter and all his friends wentstraight to Hell for practicing witchcraft. The End." His son cheersand Ned throws the book into the fireplace. Harry Potter was alsoparodied in The Onion, when an article titled "Harry PotterBooks Spark Rise in Satanism Among Children" satirically reportedthe thousands of children attracted to the dark arts and denyingreligion due to the books. As reported on Urban Legends Reference Pages,some who were unaware that the article was a pastiche employed itas evidence in the demonisation of the books. The entire action andreaction is recorded on thispage.

The bottom line for conservative Christians who are opposed tothe reading of the books--the main reason underlying thecontroversy, is that in the book of Deuteronomy, witchcraft andwizadry (along with other common occult practices) are explicitlycondemned by God as being an abomination to Him. They must, ofcourse, admit that the book may contain a plethora of values hailedby Christians as commendable, but they do not believe that theirchildren's sensitive minds should be subjected to--or immersedin--an environment full of authentic occult practices, rituals,beliefs, etc.

Accusations of plagiarism

Rowling prevailed in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement,filed by Nancy Stouffer, writer of The Legend of Rahand the Muggles and allegedly of Larry Potter and His BestFriend Lilly. "Muggle" is wizarding jargon for non-magical people.USDistrict Judge Allen G. Schwartz rejected Nancy Stouffer'sclaims that she was plagiarised, and fined Stouffer $50,000 for"submission of fraudulent documents" and "untruthful testimony",but stopped short of having Stouffer criminally charged withperjury.Stouffer was required to pay a portion of the attorney's feesincurred by Rowling, her US publisher Scholastic Press, and WarnerBros. Films.

While no known legal action has been taken, a Bollywood(Indian) film called Aabra Ka Daabra: School of Magic, wasreleased in 2005 and was claimed to have been "inspired" by HarryPotter. The film follows very closely to Rowling's story, as it toofollows a young wizard as he enters magic school following theapparent death of his wizard father. Additionally, many of the setsand costumes are strikingly similar to those of the Potterseries.

The American television program, "UBOS", could also besaid to have taken many of its ideas from the Harry Potter series.Its strict Headmistress is remarkably similar to the strict DeputyHeadmistress of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall, and it just sohappens that both teachers can transform themselves into cats. Thecombination of two boys, one witty, the other not, and a girl withremarkable talent for magic, is the same in both Harry Potter andUBOS. There are also strong similarities between the old, wiseguardian of Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter, and the old, wiseguardian of UBOS in "UBOS", and rather than "Muggles", "UBOS" has"Morties".

Injunction against purchasers of early copies

A grocery store in Canada accidentally sold several copies ofthe sixth Harry Potter book before the authorised release date. TheCanadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction(PDF copy) fromthe Supreme Court of BritishColumbia prohibiting the purchasers from reading the books intheir possession. This sparked a number of news articlesquestioning the injunction's restriction on fundamental rights . Canadian law professor MichaelGeist has posted commentary on his weblog . Richard Stallman has posted commentary onhis weblog calling for a boycott until the publisher issues anapology . Some versions of this creed have beencirculated by email including a spoiler for oneof the major plot points in the novel; whether this was actuallythe original posted version and was modified by Stallman is as yetunclear, though the tone of the sentence is substantially the sameas that of the rest of the message.

Other analogous works

Comic book fans have noted that a comic bookseries first published in 1990 by DC Comicscalled The Books of Magic, by NeilGaiman, shares many similarities to Rowling's books. Theseinclude a dark haired young boy with glasses, named Tim Hunter, whodiscovers his own potential as the most powerful wizard of his ageafter being approached by magic-wielding individuals, the first ofwhom makes him a gift of a pet owl. Rowling officially denies beingaware of this series, and Gaiman has gone on record stating that hebelieves similarities to be either coincidence, or drawn from thesame fantasy archetypes.

Many people, notably Harry Potter narrator StephenFry, have commented on the similarities between the series andTom Brown's Schooldays by ThomasHughes. Both stories involve an average boy sent off toboarding school at eleven, who is better at sport than he is atacademics. Tom gains a best friend upon arrival, named East, whohelps him adjust to the new environment (an analogue to RonWeasley). They are soon set upon by an arrogant bully namedFlashman (an analogue to DracoMalfoy). Eventually Tom becomes the guardian of a shy andsensitive boy, named Arthur, whom he is ultimately willing to fightfor (similar to Neville Longbottom).

Recent viewers of the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes, scripted byChris Columbus, director of the first twoHarry Potter movies, have noticed similarities between itscharacters, setting, events and tone, and those of the Harry Potterseries.

Readers of classic fantasy fiction have noted a very strong resemblancebetween the premise of Harry Potter and Ursula K. LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), inwhich a boy with unusual gifts of magic is recognised and sent to aspecial school for wizards. A school rival in the book is almost adead ringer for Draco Malfoy.

LeGuin was not the first to propose a special school for witchesand wizards. Eleanor Estes was apparently the first, in herbook The Witch Family (1960), and TheWorst Witch series follows the same line. A young adultbook by Jane Yolen entitled Wizard's Hall, which takes place in a moreovertly fairy-tale-esque world, also predates Harry Potter and hasas its basic premise a school of wizardry and a boy protagonistwith magical talents. By analogy, the mutants of the X-Men world, withtheir seemingly magical powers attend ProfessorXavier's School for Gifted Children, with Xavier serving aDumbledore-like role. In the long-running 1960s TV seriesBewitched, several of the older witches arevery like those described in the Potter books, and SamanthaStephens's Aunts Hagatha and Enchantra are explicitly described asrunning a school for witches. Hogwarts-like witches — one of whomis played by stage actress Hermione Gingold (no relation to thefictional character in Rowling's books) — also appear in the 1958film Bell, Book and Candle.

John Bellairs's Lewis Barnavelt books have manypoints in common with the Harry Potter series. They concern a youngboy, orphaned when his parents die in a car crash, who is sent tolive with his peculiar uncle Jonathan and his housekeeper MrsZimmermann. Both are actually wizards and their house is a Hogwarts-likeconstruction of moving pictures and secret passageways. Big,bearded Uncle Jonathan is only somewhat magical, while theshrewder, stricter Mrs Zimmermann is actually a powerful sorceress.Like the Harry Potter world, the series parallels the fantastic andthe mundane; combining the trevails of growing up in small town USAwith a hidden realm of magic. There are a number of surprisingpoints of concordance between the two series, including a wanddisguised as a purple umbrella (in the Harry Potter books, however,the umbrella is pink.)

There are also echoes of Rudyard Kipling's classic TheJungle Book, which opens with an attack by villain Shere Khanon year-old baby Mowgli and his parents. Shere Khan is unable to killMowgli because Mother Wolf, the novel's mother figure, is willingto die to protect him. Mowgli grows up a virtual orphan until he iseleven, when he learns that either he must kill Shere Khan or ShereKhan will kill him. Other tenuous similarities include Bagheera, ablack panther, who, like SiriusBlack, is an escaped prisoner and acts as an uncle figure toMowgli.

Harry Potter as a brand

The Harry Potter brand is very strong due to its devoted fanbase. In addition to the aforementioned adjunct books, Harry Pottermerchandise related to the books and movies is abundant.

On 7 September 2005, AppleComputer announced that it would release a limited edition iPod with the Hogwarts logoengraved on the back. This limited edition iPod would be dubbedthe Harry Potter Collector's iPod. The purchase of this iPod included a codeto download all of the Harry Potter audiobooksto date as well as J. K. Rowling's biographyfrom the iTunes Music Store. On 12 October2005 AppleComputer reintroduced the Harry Potter Collector's iPod which comes with all the books and theengraving on the back like the original Harry Potter Collector'siPod but just updated, with the iPod line to match the look of the5G iPod. TheHarry Potter Fifth-Generation Collector's iPod comes with all the features as the other 5GiPodsincluding the feature to watch videos. No word yet if AppleComputer is going to strike a deal with Warner Brothers to preload the Harry Potterfilms in the future.

;">SiriusBlack, is an escaped prisoner and acts as an uncle figure toMowgli.

Harry Potteras a brand

The Harry Potter brand is very strong due to its devoted fanbase. In addition to the aforementioned adjunct books, Harry Pottermerchandise related to the books and movies is abundant.

On 7 September 2005, AppleComputer announced that it would release a limited edition iPod with the Hogwarts logoengraved on the back. This limited edition iPod would be dubbedthe Harry Potter Collector's iPod . The purchase of this iPod included a codeto download all of the Harry Potter audiobooksto date as well as J. K. Rowling's biographyfrom the iTunes Music Store. On 12 October2005 AppleComputer reintroduced the Harry Potter Collector's iPod which comes with all the books and theengraving on the back like the original Harry Potter Collector'siPod but just updated, with the iPod line to match the look of the5G iPod. TheHarry Potter Fifth-Generation Collector's iPod comes with all the features as the other 5GiPodsincluding the feature to watch videos. No word yet if AppleComputer is going to strike a deal with Warner Brothers to preload the Harry Potterfilms in the future.