Have you ever bought a kindle book you already own a physical copy of?

[DH_Sayer]

I've done this a few times with books I wanted to give a closer read, like Great Gatsby. (The word search feature is a true godsend.)

But I also have physical books I wish I didn't buy because having the kindle version is so much more convenient. I noticed today that Gaddis's Recognitions and JR will be available next month, and for half the price I paid for the physical copies, which are still sitting on my shelf unread. I'm seriously considering just re-buying them since it would be such a nicer reading experience...I know it would make me read them faster, too! Anyone else go through this?

[Geoffrey]

I've bought quite a few ecopies of books I already own a paper copy.  Part of it was an intentional culling of my physical library to shrink it and part was a desire to have an easier to read copy of books I love.

[slandon36]

Sadly, yes.  I had pre-ordered several books by my favorite authors and when I purchased my kindle, I wanted to read the books on there.  So I set the books aside as they came in and bought them on my kindle.....PS...Don't tell my husband!   

[Tip10]

Absolutely, DW and I are both re-visiting series that we have enjoyed immensely.
The paper copies are on the shelf but we've each bought Kindle copies of our respected series for re-reading on the K's.
We read a lot on our commutes and the K's are just so much easier to do that with.

[Amy Corwin]

Yes--I do it all the time. In fact, I have about four shelves of books I'd love to get Kindle copies of, but alas, I doubt I will ever find them.
I have a lot of old paperbacks that I love but they are falling apart and crumbling. Some are getting hard to read because of that. I have a weakness for the old Gothics of the 60's and 70's and the books just aren't holding up.

Unfortunately, I don't expect anyone to revive them and put them on the Kindle. Sigh. I wish they would as there were some books, particularly from Virginia Coffman, that I was never able to find and had always wanted to read (e.g. her Moura series).

Beyond that, I also am trying to reduce the piles of physical books lying around and one way to do that is to donate those to a children's home (they sell them and use the proceeds to support the children) and then "replace them" with ebook copies. It works all the way around.

[AnelaBelladonna]

Many times.  There are books that I love to read over and over again but I can't bring myself to read DTBs anymore so I buy them for my Kindle.

[Harry Shannon]

Not often, but grabbed a few classics I've always meant to re-read. Unfortunately, I have SO many books I'm just not getting that done.

[Geoffrey]

At the moment, I'm going in the other direction and buying hardbound versions of books I already have on kindle to upgrade my physical library to just my favorites ....

[hs]

I've never bought the e-book version after owning the physical copy, but I've done the reverse. I'm reading more e-books nowadays, and if I come across one I really like, I'll buy the physical copy too. Call me old-fashioned, but there's still something comforting about having a book that you can hold in your hands and flip through the pages.

[KateEllison]

I've never bought the e-book version after owning the physical copy, but I've done the reverse. I'm reading more e-books nowadays, and if I come across one I really like, I'll buy the physical copy too. Call me old-fashioned, but there's still something comforting about having a book that you can hold in your hands and flip through the pages.

I'm the same way as HS. I'll read just about anything on my Kindle, but for a beloved favorite I usually like to buy the print version as well. And of course some books I like to have just so I can display them on my bookshelves (I have a floor-to-ceiling wall of them in my living room that we installed last year).

[flipside]

Yes.

Physical books I usually loan to people. eBooks for myself.

But also recently, because the physical copy was too heavy/large to lug around:

[Tony Rabig]

Frequently.  I've been downsizing the physical book collection and replacing with ebooks.  There are, however, a number of titles I purchased as ebooks without finding new homes for the print editions.  A number of Harlan Ellison's titles, for instance.  If their publishers worked up enough common sense to release ebooks of the works of Jorge Luis Borges, Don Robertson, Thomas Williams, Roger Zelazny, Theodore Sturgeon, Jack Finney, or Tabitha King (to name a few), I'd buy them immediately or at least as quickly as the credit card balance would allow.  And I'd hang on to the print editions of most of their titles as well.

And flipside, nice example of a book too heavy to lug around -- The Weird is a terrific collection, but not something you can tuck comfortably into a jacket pocket; the ebook edition is a godsend, and well worth the price.  Now if Tor would do an ebook of The Dark Descent as well, I'd be happy.

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

A few. My favorite book, The Stand...I already have several copies and 2 versions, but it is a brick so it's nice to also have it on my Kindle. Same for The Swan by McCammon and Footfall...also bricks, and found them very inexpensive for the Kindle. So much nicer to have them all wafer-thin! Some of my sci-fi paperbacks are ancient and crumbling and when and if I find them for reasonable prices in e-book format, I'll buy them.

I still buy most non-fiction books in my areas of interest in hard copy, but I have found a few at reasonable prices for Kindle, so grab them up too.

I really like the lightness and ergonomics of my Kindle, I prefer reading on that now, unless there are photos, diagrams, pictures, etc.

[LaRita]

Frequently.  I've been downsizing the physical book collection and replacing with ebooks.

This.  I'm a huge re-reader and never get rid of books.  Changing from paper to digital has already made a significant dent in the clutter at my house. 

[Paul Reid]

Bought an e-book version of my own book even though I already had it on paperback, which is silly given that I'm hardly likely to read it. Also, short story collections by William Trevor and James Joyce as I like to have them to hand. Kindle is so much easier than searching through bookcases anyway!

[Meka]

I am donating all my hardcopies to the library and repurchasing them on my Kindle. It is just so much easier to read books on the Kindle!

[Dara England]

I recently bought a set of ebooks I already owned in paperback form. But I didn't own the entire series, just the first three books, and there was an awesome sale on the set, so I thought I might as well take the opportunity to grab them all for my Kindle.

[Tatiana]

I am donating all my hardcopies to the library and repurchasing them on my Kindle. It is just so much easier to read books on the Kindle!

This is what I am also doing.

[bce]

Books that I get for work (I'm a systems software engineer) I sometimes buy the ebook in addition to the physical copy.  The physical copy is for my desk because I can't take the kindle in with me.

[ellenoc]

Only two. As my mother would have said, I'm too Scotch to buy things I already own just because of format. However, I did recently buy James Herriot's first 3 books in one volume because they were offered at such a low price and my paperbacks of those books are pretty beat up. (Hmm. Maybe that counts as 3.) I also got a Kindle copy of Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar. My paperback of that was in such bad shape I kept it together with a rubber band.

[Linjeakel]

Yes, I did that with the very first book I read on my Kindle. I was about 200 pages into a 1000ish page book - I wanted to finish it, but I also wanted to play with my new toy! So I got the Kindle version and was very impressed with how easy it was to search for a particular sentence and find my place immediately.

I've since bought one or two old favourites for my Kindle even though I still had the paper copy. I'd love to be able to afford to buy a lot more. Trouble is, I still don't want to get rid of my paper books!  

[acellis]

I find myself doing this more often as time goes by. I also have a long list of books I own in paper for which I'm always seeking the digital version.

[kaotickitten]

Of course. I don't want to have to take a favorite book on the plane if I can help it.  Same with to work.  Books get extremely filthy at work and a kindle is easier to clean.

[ETS PRESS]

Yes! I snatched up Graceling by Kristen Cashore when it was 99 cents through the Kindle Daily Deal. I can't wait until Bitterblue comes out. I also own more than one version / copy of Pride and Prejudice. What can I say? Jane is all that. 

[Sarah1981]

Yep!

One: I don't have much storage space for printed books, so a lot of them are in storage. It's been easier to just buy (or borrow through Overdrive) a book I want to re-read.

Two: I have to use a tinted, plastic overlay on printed books if I want to read them longer than 15-30 minutes. And I have to change the background color in Word to a light yellow while I'm writing if I don't want to suffer too much. The Kindle's e-ink screen doesn't give me any trouble, though, so I can read for an hour or longer at a time, just like when I was a kid. Awesome.