Google has announced that it has joined hands with J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore to distribute Harry Potter ebooks through its array of literary products.

The Inside Google Books blog said:

Pottermore and Google are teaming up to integrate Pottermore with a number of Google products and APIs. So when the series of Harry Potter ebooks launches on Pottermore.com in early October, these bestsellers will be available in the U.S. via the open Google eBooks platform. When you buy a Harry Potter ebook from Pottermore, you will be able to choose to keep it in your Google Books library in-the-cloud, as well as on other e-reading platforms.

As part of the distribution deal, Google also secured exclusive rights to be the payment platform for all Pottermore.com purchases. That means you will be paying for your ebooks and audiobooks via Google Checkout rather than PayPal or Amazon Payments.

Pottermore will be the exclusive place to buy Harry Potter ebooks and digital audiobooks. You’ll be able to buy ebooks from the Pottermore Shop, push them to your Google Books library and store them alongside your other Google eBooks. Your other Google eBooks may be purchased from any of more than 250 independent booksellers or from Google directly.

Pottermore, which launches this fall, is designed to be an interactive online reading experience. It will also be the exclusive place to purchase the ebook versions of Harry Potter. The site is rumored to have gaming elements, awards and achievements, and virtual items.

The Pottermore team also plans to use YouTube for global video broadcasts in the future, as they did for JK Rowling’s announcement of Pottermore in June.

While quiet a few fans found the movie disappointing when it was released in the summer of 2009, a lot of fans still loved it. I have listed below direct links to retailers in US, UK and India from whom you can order the disc(s) online.

United States of America

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD or BLU RAY from Amazon.com
Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD or BLUE RAY from Half.com

United Kingdom

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince BLU RAY OR DVD from Amazon.co.uk
Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince BLU RAY or DVD from Play.com

India

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince BLU RAY or DVD from IndiaPlaza.in

Fans in other countries sorry, I did not get time to research stores from across the world, but the movie should be evailable in the most popular online shopping sites in your places.

Related links
Harry Potter and the Half blood prince was crap – a cynical review of the 6th Potter movie with an interactive discussion below.
Write great Harry Potter stories like J.K. Rowling – A best-selling author reveals the essential secrets to writing fantastic Harry Potter stories

You many remember that back in December, Amazon.com was among the 7 entities that purchased Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling.

They gave out summaries of the tales, but many fans still wanted more! Well now, Amazon is having a writing contest for one lucky winner to go to London and read and review Tales of Beedle the Bard!

Contest Details

The Beedle the Bard Ballad Writing Contest challenges Amazon customers 13 and older to creatively write a short, English-language submission of 100 or fewer words answering one of the following three questions:

* What songs do wizards use to celebrate birthdays?

* What other sports do wizards play besides Quidditch?

* What have you learned from the Harry Potter series that you use in everyday life?

Click here to enter the contest.  For more information, check out the Beedle the Bard Ballad Writing Contest FAQ

Eligible Countries

The contest is open to muggles ages 13 and older who reside in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Québec), China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States (the 50 states and D.C.), and the United Kingdom.

Key contest dates:

• April 9-April 22, 2008: Call for submissions.

• May 5-May 11, 2008: Semi-finalists are revealed and customers vote for their favorites.

• May 13-May 19, 2008: Finalists in each age group are revealed, and customers vote for the Grand Prize winner.

• May 22, 2008: The Grand Prize winner is announced.

Pretty tough questions even for a die hard Potter fan! Let’s see if any of our readers have an answer to them.