As technology pushes us closer and closer to a fantasy world of our own, J. K. Rowling has insisted on keeping things traditional with the Harry Potter series by leaving it in book form and denying its electronic release - until now.
Rowling's agent has confirmed that she is now considering making the beloved book series available for Kindle and iPad e-reading.
"The e-book format is now something that is being actively considered," Rowling's spokeswoman said.
If the conversion happens, Rowling could earn about an additional £100 million, according to publishing experts. That's like pennies to Rowling - she already has an estimated £620 million.
The move has been compared to The Beatles' release of their music on iTunes.
While alleged e-book versions of some of the Harry Potter titles have appeared before, they were illegal scams. In January of 2005, now-defunct website harrybooks.info was offering an electronic version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
"You should NEVER trust any Harry Potter e-books offered for download from the internet or on P2P/file-trading networks," Rowling said in a statement on her website at the time.
While the fear of piracy was part of the reason Rowling resisted the conversion for so long to begin with, that hasn't stopped people. In addition to the scams, a pirated electronic copy of Half-Blood Prince appeared online within 12 hours of the hardcover release.
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