Skype
Version: 3.8
Downloads Count: 35,519
License Type: Free
Price: Free
Date Added: May 24, 2008
Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Requirements: Microphone, headphones, or sound system; Webcam for video
File Size: 10415 KB
Author: Skype Technologies
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Editor's Review of Skype
It seems sort of odd to be reviewing a program that millions of people world-wide already know and use for long distance communications, but if you haven't tried the latest version, I've got some things to tell you. Skype is a program that uses your Internet connection and the Internet itself to transmit voice and video data to create what is essentially, a long distance phone/videophone (VoIP) service. Better yet, it's free when you're transmitting from PC to PC.
Skype is easy to use and has recognized every mic, headset, speakers,, and Webcam I've ever tried it with (though I've experienced conflicts with other audio programs on occasion when it loads at startup). As a consequence, I only run the program when I need it. You need one of the aforementioned devices so you can hear as well as be heard and/or seen, though Skype provides simple text chat as a fallback.
Skype setup is as easy as creating a user name and password, which is done during the short configuration wizard. After that you basically select a user from your address book (you can look these up, but it helps to know your friends or family's user names) and dial. It's just like using a phone, or video phone if you have a Web cam. The quality of the audio and video is highly dependent upon the speed of the connection and is never better than the slowest link in the chain, i.e., broadband to dialup uses dialup bit rates. You can still get a decent audio connection using dial-up but for video, broadband is better.
You can call land lines or cell phones anywhere in the world using Skype, but it's not free. You can buy credit from within the Skype program and rates for most countries fall between 2 to 5 cents though there are some exceptions. Make sure you check rates before you call. I made the mistake of not doing this with the old AT&T once and wound up with a $1000 phone bill thinking the rates to Denmark without a plan would be at least similar to those when you had one (they were $3 a minute without as opposed to 17 cents with). Skype is pay as you go, so there's no chance of the same thing happening but you could blow through your credit in a hurry.
Outside of the occasional audio glitch, I have only one complaint about Skype, and it's exceedingly minor. The vertical bar character that you can see in the graphic above appears in a number of places within the Skype GUI on my machine. iTunes used to suffer this before Apple learned not to used parts of the extended character set or fonts that might not be installed on every PC. Other than that, Skype is a great little program that's being used around the world by millions of people to stay in touch. If you haven't tried it, you should.
--Jon L. Jacobi
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