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It’s been three years since I installed Skype … and forgot about the application. The technology was in its infancy and there was no one to call basically. The software was bulky and a resource hog. Now, three years later, Skype is everywhere and expanding to handle calls to and from the POTS — and the software is still a bulky resource hog.
There are many reasons why I still don’t like Skype, or computer mediated communication in general. Wikipedia has a lengthy list of reasons why Skype in particular may not be such a swell idea. More generally, it’s actually tough for me to spare the 7-10kb/s up/downstream bandwidth that the software needs to perform. Running BitTorrent 24/7 on another computer doesn’t leave much and the router (Dlink 624) doesn’t do a fantastic job at rationing bandwidth. Clearly one would need to limit BT or have a router with some sort of priority rules.
Also, the beta 2.6 of Skype took 20% CPU and 64 MB+ RAM while calling another user. Seems a little steep and the memory usage din’t drop much even after closing the call. Plus it’s a hefty 14 MB download and that seems bloated.
Still, the main problem is a classic one. Namely the microphone. I have this fairly good analog headset from Plantronics nowadays but I still get an obnoxious background noise when the mike is on. I have a mute button on the cord, and one on the media hub that connects to the computer, but neither really mutes the sound while removing the background noise. So I’m left with disabling / muting the mike input via nVidia’s software mixer anyway. Plus I had to activate the mike boost function, to increase volume, which really added to the noise problem. The digitize input option just adds insult to injury after that. And even with both functions deactivated I can hear a slight clicking / popping noise at times — the sort that is barely noticable but enough to drive me insane(r). Not that any of this would matter if I could get Skype to mute / unmute the mike when you receive / close a call. Perhaps ii already does that since it clearly controls the input volume dynamically? I’ll need to look into that.
Another solution would be to get some sort of fancy external solution, a Skype phone or something, perhaps a bluetooth headset, but the point is that Skype should be simple and free. There is no point in pretending that Skype isn’t a computer based solution by hiding behind external gadgets or making the chain of electronic devices more complicated than it has to be. Especially not if you already have a decent PC headset.
So, bottom line … it would seem I …
- Can’t have Skype running in the background constantly.
- Can’t have the microphone conveniently enabled constantly.
