Two versions of the Books?

[Sharkû]

There are/were two versions of how Bilbo found the Ring, the earlier one from The Hobbit was revised after the The Lord of the Rings.
There are also various earlier draft versions available to us in form of The History of the Lord of the Rings published in History of Middle-earth 6 to 9.
The rest is either a misconception or a joke.

[Lolidir]

there were two versions of the hobbit. in the first one Bilbo found the ring but it wasnt of any importance to Gollum. when he wrote LOTR he had to go back and give the ring the powers, and show how it corrupted Gollum. he did this so it would make sence coming from The Hobbit into LOTR.

if that doesnt make sence its because i am not good at explaining my ideas so just let me know and i will try and clear things up.

now about the teo versions of LOTR. i dont think there were two version, but i wouldnt put it past Tolkien to have written something in his notes about Sam throwing it into the lava, and then changing his mind as he started writing. i want to say that i too have heard something like that, but i am not sure. if you have ever tried writing a story you know that ideas come, and then better ones come. so to say that he changed his mind about having Sam throw it in and have Gollum and Frodo have a fight is not at all that incredible.