No. They're not interchangeable.

I know it's not exactly relevant, but if a book is public domain, you can find some nice free Kindle versions of it on the Kindle Store, Gutenberg, and Free Kindle Books. Check out this link: http://ireaderreview.com/2008/01/19/free-books-for-the-amazon-kindle/
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No - looks like the upgrade service doesn't allow upgrade to the Kindle yet.
Source(s):
http://wiki.mobileread.com: http://is.gd/l8Z5

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No that wouldn't be a good business model now would it. But fear not, you still have hope in downloading the free e-books. You can start with e-hows guide. See link
Source(s):
http://www.ehow.com/how_4536311_ebooks-free.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=ya...

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No, however there are several sites that offer free e-books. Mostly classics that are no longer under a copyright agreement. Manybooks.net & http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page are great sites for the classics. Baen has free e-books if you like modern sci-fiction/fantasy http://www.baen.com/library/home.htm
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No
Source(s):
www.amazon.com

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Unfortunately no, but this would be something that Amazon should do. It would even be nice if they offered you to trade in your book, and they'd give you a discount on it for the Kindle version. This would be a great incentive for people to go digital.
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No, though it would be nice if you could.

Though I am not a lawyer, I understand the "space-shifting" principles of fair use as established in RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia to mean that making a copy of media that you own for the purposes of using it in a different device (for example, ripping CDs to MP3 and copying them to an MP3 player) is entirely legal. So if you were to, say, scan or type in a book you owned and upload that to your Kindle, you would be within your rights to do so.

(If you were to go out and download an illicit e-copy of said book, you could argue that since you owned the print version you had moral justification to snag the e-version since scanning and typing it in yourself would produce the same end result. I don't think the courts would necessarily see it that way, though.)

Some e-book publishers, such as the aforementioned Baen, are cognizant of this principle, and once you buy one of their e-books you can download it in as many different formats as you like. (But even they don't give you the e-book free with a purchase of the print book—except for certain select titles which come with CD-ROMs bound into the first-printing hardcover that contain that e-book and dozens more besides.)

The technical book publisher O'Reilly also recognizes these principles. Though I don't think they give you the e-book free, they do offer a discount bundle that includes both the print and the e-books together.

But most publishers consider even each individual e-book format to be a separate "edition". This is why, if you buy an e-book from Fictionwise that is encrypted, you only get one single encrypted format. "We don't give you the paperback version free for buying the hardcover," their thinking goes, "so why should we give you the Mobipocket version if you buy the eReader version?"

Needless to say, this logic would also apply to giving you the Kindle version free if you bought a printed version. Publishers wouldn't go for it. Though if Amazon becomes a dominant player in the e-book world, perhaps they'll be able to twist publishers' arms to get some concessions. I doubt that one would be high on the list, though.
Source(s):
My experience covering e-book-related issues for the blog http://www.teleread.org

Those Baen bind-in CDs can be found at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com

Other free Baen books can be found at http://baen.com/library

You can buy Baen books at http://www.webscription.net

Any and all Baen books that come in "Mobipocket" format can be uploaded to your Kindle via the USB link. Here's Baen's guide to doing that: http://www.webscription.net/t-kindle.aspx

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