Potter audiobooks to be re-released on vinyl

Harry Potter is coming to vinyl! That's right. The seven-volume story of the boy wizard will soon be spinning at 33 1/3 RPM under the Random House Listening Library label.

This news comes to us just one week after the books were made available in e-book format, for popular iPad and Kindle owners. According to an industry spokesperson, these vinyl audiobook collections will also tap into a new market:

"Vinyl records, once thought to be an outdated and extinct method of listening to music, actually have seen a resurgence in recent years," says industry insider Ben Fort. "Nielsen Soundscan reported in January that vinyl record sales topped 3.9 million in 2011, a 39.3 percent gain over 2010. This proves that there is a market for vinyl still today, and we definitely wanted to tap it."

New music by rock and pop musicians alike is finding its way to vinyl, including Adele's billboard juggernaut album "21." However, there may be just one setback to consider. The 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record holds roughly 25 minutes of audio per side. We have calculated that the vinyl versions of the audiobooks would take up the following number of records (if both sides are used):

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: 10 vinyl records
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 11 vinyl records
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 14 vinyl records
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 23 vinyl records
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: 31 vinyl records
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: 22 vinyl records
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 24 vinyl records

That's a total of 135 double-sided records, weighing approximately 904.5 ounces of material, or 56.6 lbs! We hypothesize that the boxed set of all audio books will likely be designed like Harry Potter's school trunk. Wouldn't that be awesome? We'll let you know more details as they surface.