Can you download books you already own on a sony reader/kindle?

[shreya]

Hello Guys,
I already own a lot of paperback/hardback books. If i get a Sony Reader or a Kindle i don't want to have to buy them all again. Is there a way on either product that you can download books to the product that you already own? If not, are there any digital readers that can?

[pdurrant]

There are no such arrangements for any ebook reader.

[Zzyzx]

I think it would be difficult to show an e-reader a proof of purchase for the paperback version.

Some very few authors will give you the e-book version if you send them a picture of you with the book, receipt or other proof of purchase but so far I've only heard about a couple of those. And I can't remember who they are.

[4691mls]

Some Mobileread members have had their paper books scanned into electronic format - if you do a search you can probably find out names of companies that do this and how much people paid to have it done.

[Ripplinger]

There's the added problem that sometimes the publisher of the paper book is different than the publisher of the ebook. Why would the publisher of the ebook who didn't even sell you the paper version give you the book for free? Even if the same publisher, it would get complicated to prove ownership of a book, unless you kept all receipts that specifically named the book, which probably none would.

[elcreative]

And you don't expect ownership of a hardback to give a right to a free paperback version... no difference... just like owning vinyl doesn't give a free cassette, 8-track or CD version...

[Man Eating Duck]

Originally Posted by elcreative

And you don't expect ownership of a hardback to give a right to a free paperback version... no difference... just like owning vinyl doesn't give a free cassette, 8-track or CD version...

Actually, buying a new vinyl these days often gives you a code for downloading mp3 (or FLAC) versions free of charge, so in that respect shreya's question isn't entirely unreasonable. But yes, it is very uncommon for books, usually you can't legitimately obtain electronic versions of paper books you already own.

[filmo]

So you scan your books to get a poor quality book then digitize that to get a poor quality ebook. Google has done this with many out of copyright books that are easy to find with Google search. But this is not legal if book's copyright has not expired.

Lots of legal free books available from Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks and other places.

http://www.gutenberg.org/
http://www.feedbooks.com/

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by Man Eating Duck

Actually, buying a new vinyl these days often gives you a code for downloading mp3 (or FLAC) versions free of charge, so in that respect shreya's question isn't entirely unreasonable. But yes, it is very uncommon for books, usually you can't legitimately obtain electronic versions of paper books you already own.

The difference being is that it is extremely easy to get a perfect digital copy of an album and extremely difficult to get a perfect digital copy of a printed book.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by Man Eating Duck

Actually, buying a new vinyl these days often gives you a code for downloading mp3 (or FLAC) versions free of charge, so in that respect shreya's question isn't entirely unreasonable. But yes, it is very uncommon for books, usually you can't legitimately obtain electronic versions of paper books you already own.

That *may* be the case buying vinyl albums today just like buying a DVD you sometimes get the digital copy BUT OP is talking about books they already own. You can't go to the publisher and say that you bought it when it first came out in 1985 for example but now that ereaders are around you'd like the digital version. Not gonna happen.

Nor would it happen with old albums you bought in the past.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by shreya

Hello Guys,
I already own a lot of paperback/hardback books. If i get a Sony Reader or a Kindle i don't want to have to buy them all again. Is there a way on either product that you can download books to the product that you already own? If not, are there any digital readers that can?

You have two choices. Buy as eBooks if available or read the pBook.

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by filmo

So you scan your books to get a poor quality book then digitize that to get a poor quality ebook.

Err, no. My digitized books are of a better quality than a lot of retails... You just need to know what to do and don't expect too much of automated tools.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

Err, no. My digitized books are of a better quality than a lot of retails... You just need to know what to do and don't expect too much of automated tools.

+1




...

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

Err, no. My digitized books are of a better quality than a lot of retails... You just need to know what to do and don't expect too much of automated tools.

+ another 1. I'm so spoiled by the quality of my own books that I've scanned, that I've become pretty anal about correcting purchased books as I read them. It all depends on the amount of work someone puts into the scan.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

Err, no. My digitized books are of a better quality than a lot of retails... You just need to know what to do and don't expect too much of automated tools.

Same here, my proofreading catches and eliminates most mistakes that are in the print versions. It's not difficult either, just takes a bit of time.