It’s not unusual to see several different versions of the same book in the Kindle store, often at a wide range of prices (from zero on up). Why does it happen, and how can you pick one?These books are typically in the public domain. They are titles not protected by copyright, most commonly because they were first published in the USA before 1923.Anyone can publish those books: they belong to the public. Even if one hundred versions of Romeo and Juliet exist, someone can publish another one without getting the permission of the earlier publishers. This is not just true for e-books. If you check in the p-book (paperbook) part of Amazon, you’ll find many classics which have hundred of versions. While it is easier to publish an e-book than a p-book, that hasn’t stopped the proliferation in either format.How do you pick one version over another? Are they all the same?No, they aren’t all the same. Formatting is an important issue, as is proof-reading. Some publishers are careful about these: a hobbyist may not be, although some are more thorough than some tradpubs (traditional publishers). Some versions will have added value: introductions, notes, illustrations, and so on. There are also e-book specific features: interactive Tables of Contents and endnotes, for example. Random House and its subsidiaries block the text-to-speech access, which is important to many people (including some of the disabled).The best bet (if you are in Whispernet range) is to get a sample of a couple of different versions and see which one you like best. Once you find a publisher you like, you can go to them first for other books. The quality among books from the same publisher is more likely to be consistent.Many people like the MobileReference editions. These tend to be well-formatted, inexpensive versions, often compilations of several works by the same author. For example, you can get all fourteen original Wizard of Oz books (with an author biography) for ninety-nine cents (at time of writing).Penguin also has a good reputation.Free books are also available for sources other than Amazon. Project Gutenberg is the grandparent of all free e-book sites, and many sites have reformatted versions of their books. The PG books tend to be fairly plain. FeedBooks.com, ManyBooks.Net, and Pejome.com are three sources.================For more Frequently Asked Kindle Questions, see:http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/ref=cm_cd_ef_tft_tp?%5Fencoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx2ELH7RBF7D78R(Amazon thread relevant to the discussion)

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