The Poynter Institute, a journalism school and owner of the St. Petersburg Times, posted this entry discussing the death of the newspaper, a thought I briefly mentioned earlier. 

Their take is that with the growth of online news readership, the newspaper will have to present itself in a different light, and provide readers an alternative to the traditional newspaper.  They cite an example of a Danish newspaper that is presenting content in more of a magazine / tabloid format, ala the Red Eye in Chicago. 

So what do you think?  As municipalities and transit agencies begin offering free WiFi and web connectivity becomes more and more prevalent, is there really a need to print all that paper, which in and of itself is so wasteful? 

I'd always prefer paper-less reading whenever possible, but certainly books and other print volumes are here to stay.