Today Amazon introduced the Kindle, it’s new digital reading device. It’s thinner and lighter than many paperback books and sports a high-resolution, black and white electronic paper screen with adjustable text size. Amazon says the screen “works using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically. It reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays.” This technology allows for it to be readable even in bright sunlight, and, since the screen uses no backlighting, it doesn’t get warm with use.

The niftiest part is that users can purchase and download new content from anywhere they can pick up a signal from Sprint. Users can connect using Sprint’s EVDO network for free to make their purchases from Amazon. The Kindle offers a full QWERTY keyboard that allows users to easily search their digital library and add notes or annotations to what they’re reading. The Kindle even comes preloaded with The New Oxford American Dictionary and access to Wikipedia. Users can even e-mail themselves Word documents and pictures.

The Kindle Store offers over 90,000 books, newspapers, magazines, and even blogs subscriptions for sale. Books are $9.99, and monthly subscriptions to newspapers run about the same. I do think it’s lame that users have to pay $1.99 per month for access to blogs like Slashdot, though. Storage isn’t an issue with an SD slot for avid readers. Even with wireless use, the Kindle boasts multi-day use and a quick, 2 hour recharge time. Each Kindle will set you back $399, but you can link five or six Kindles to the same account and share purchased content.

This all sounds very exciting, and even the reviews from test users are glowing, but in my mind nothing can replace a real book. The texture of the binding, the smell of every page, the ability to write, underline, and highlight: these come together to form the real reading experience. Whether it is a new release or an ancient treasure, I for one will continue to read and appreciate real books. I’m not throwing away my books.