On Saturday night we brought you the first part of MuggleCast and Portus' exclusive interview with Potter audiobook narrator Jim Dale. Today, Portus has the second half of the interview online! Just visit their podcast in iTunes and press "Subscribe" to grab their latest episode for March.

Don't forget both MuggleCast and Jim Dale will be giving presentations at Portus 2008 in Dallas, Texas. Visit their site for more details, including how to register!

As promised, the latest episode of our Harry Potter podcast is here, featuring MuggleCast and Portus' interview with Jim Dale! As the narrator of the US and Canada Potter audiobooks, Jim is one of the most knowledgeable people in the Harry Potter industry. In the first part of our interview, he shares his views on the recently announced Deathly Hallows split, the process for recording the audiobooks, and MUCH more.

- One of his sons is actually a movie helicopter operator who has worked on the Potter films.
- What is his favorite Potter character voice? Which one is the hardest - or as he puts it - the most annoying to do?
- He discusses how he prepares to record the Potter books: some water and a green apple anyone?
- How long does it take him? More like how long is he given! The answer may surprise you.
- Does he ever read the books for enjoyment and what is his relationship with J.K. Rowling?
- Just what does he think about the HP fandom?

To download, we recommend subscribing for free through either Apple iTunes or the ZUNE Marketplace. If you are already subscribed, just refresh your feed. You can also find full shownotes and alternate download links at the MuggleCast website.

Part 2 of the interview will be available very soon on Portus Previews. You may remember that last week, we first told you Jim will be appearing at Portus to give several talks. Enjoy!

On this week's episode of our Harry Potter podcast, we proudly announce that Jim Dale, narrator of the US Potter audiobooks, will be joining us next week! It gets better for listeners: you get to ask Jim your questions! Listen to this week's episode for details. Plus:

- MuggleCast News guest anchor Edith gives us the news.
- Chapter by Chapter covers Chapters 20 and 21 of Deathly Hallows.
- Discussion topics include the Deathly Hallows, Xenophilius Lovegood, and more.
- Voicemails return and we have lots of fun questions and answers!
- Make the Music Connection challenges our musical creativity.
- Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul: Baby Edition!

All that and much more can be found on this great new episode of MuggleCast. To download, we recommend subscribing for free through either Apple iTunes or the ZUNE Marketplace. If you are already subscribed, just refresh your feed. You can also find full shownotes and alternate download links at the MuggleCast website. Enjoy!

The 50th annual Grammy Awards was held tonight, where it was announced that Jim Dale (narrator of the US Potter audiobooks) received a Grammy for his reading of Deathly Hallows. Jim also won back in 2000 for Goblet of Fire.

Bloomsbury has just announced that for the first time the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows audiobook, read by Stephen Fry, will be released at the same time as the book (July 21st). Click here to hear Fry's message about this (containing a possible clue?), and here to see a promotional image of Fry along with Jo Rowling.

Here are some other interesting (random) facts about this audiobook:

-Listening time for the DH audio edition is 24 hours and 1 minute
-The audio editions of the Harry Potter books have now sold over a million copies.
-Stephen Fry has spent a total of 38 days in the studio recording all seven Harry Potter books
-Stephen Fry has voices for over 170 characters from the books
-In the same time as it takes to listen to all seven audiobooks you could go to the moon, and still have nearly a day left over to look around, or listen to a Harry Potter book, once you got there.
-In the same time as it takes to listen to the Deathly Hallows audiobook, you could:
· Fly from London to Sydney, Australia
· Run the men’s 100 metres world record 8800 times
· Play 16 football matches
· Listen to Queen’s ‘It’s a kind of magic’ 330 times
· Watch The Wizard of Oz 14 times

It was announced today that the US Deathly Hallows audiobook will be released on July 21st - the same day as the book itself.

The Listening Library (which creates the audiobooks) also said that the story will run over 21 hours and will retail for $79.95. The first print was not announced, but a representative at Random House was quoted as saying it will "definitely" be higher than the HBP print of 635,000.

At the National Press Club's Audie Awards in Washington DC last night, Half-Blood Prince was entered into the Audio Publishers Association's brand-new Hall of Fame. HBP is the very first book to have been awarded with this prestigious honor. The book was narrated by Jim Dale for Listening Library.