Skype vs iChat

Note: The RichText blog has moved to www.ricroberts.com

Until recently, I'd been using Skype quite a lot for my VOIP phone calls.

However, unless both people in the conversation used headphones or some kind of headset, then I could hear a slightly delayed echo of my own voice. Although this didn't actually stop anything working it was very disconcerting. Also, if either party had the volume turned up beyond a whisper, then I got quite an annoying feedback whistle.

So, I decided to try the iChat application that came with my mac, with another of my mac-owner buddies. To use iChat, you need a .mac or aim name. (I found out by reading the .mac faq that if you sign up for the free .mac trial, then you can still use your .mac name for iChat after the trial expires.)

iChat suffers from neither of the problems that plague Skype. Even when using quite a high volume we experienced no feedback or echo, and both members of the conversation were just using the MacBook's built in iSight webcam, integrated mic and laptop speakers (i.e. with no headsets)