Should I use email?

Should I use email to send my resume? Of course, if the help wanted ad/posting says to send an email then it is alright. But what if you are sending an email cold to a name you picked up on the Internet. This is a question I have been pondering.

One of the job search books I recently read suggested looking in the phone book and contacting the companies you wish to work for. I'm sure that doing this won't hurt my job search, but I'm wondering what would be the best way, in 2011, to do this. A letter? A phone call? Or, an email?

I wonder if an email would be read. I know that I receive hundreds of emails a day, many of them trying to sell me something. Would my introductory email get sorted with the sales emails? That would probably depend on how I subjected the letter. Although I could say something like "great person looking for a job"- I should probably phrase it as "letter of introduction" or (if I was given the email by someone else) "mr. blankity blank suggested I send this to you" or "our mutual acquaintance ms blank thought I should meet you".

For now, I think I'll have to stick to an older method of communication, but if anyone has any suggestions, please post them. Thanks!