Harry Potter sets a record at Amazon with 1.5 million pre-orders

Amazon.com accepted 1.5 million pre-orders for the new Harry Potter book by midnight Friday, Amazon reports. The orders made "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" the largest new product release Amazon has ever handled.

Amazon used UPS and the U.S. Postal Service to deliver hundreds of thousands of copies of the book on Saturday. The Saturday delivery option was offered for the same price as standard shipping. Amazon reports it also delivered hundreds of thousands of copies of the book on Saturday to customers in the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada.

Barnes & Noble Inc. reported that it sold 1.3 million copies of the book in the first 48 hours of its release at its retail stores and on its web site, bn.com. Barnes & Noble says in the first hour of the book’s release, Barnes & Noble sold 378,000 copies. In reporting numbers, Barnes & Noble did not distinguish between books sold online and in stores.

Amazon’s pre-orders include orders at Borders.com and Waldenbooks.com, which Amazon operates.