Do I hear voices?


This article carries a warning label! If your system does not contain a sound card to which are attached speakers and a microphone, the contents are not going to do much for you. However if you have what tends to be called a Multimedia system, or you're looking for an excuse to upgrade then take a spoonful...

The speed and zero cost of E-mail is pretty much taken for granted now but these benefits can extend to global telephone conversations as well. Given two computers with microphones, an Internet connection in between and the right software, chat away to your heart's content! Who needs a keyboard!

A few more words of caution. You need a reasonably powerful processor and a fair amount of memory. Around about a Pentium 150 (or equivilant) and at least 32 mgs. of memory. In addition quality will not be as good as a telephone line, you have to think of it as two way radio. This is particularly the case if your modem connection is slower than 33.6 bps. the bare minimum is 28.8.

Having finished with the "fine print" the only thing left is the software. Here's a list of what's called Telephony programs. >>>

Dee has tried FreeTel and commends it to you. This is another program distributed as advertisingware although you can pay a fee to suppress this.
Full details are available at the home page.

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If you like the idea of exchanging voice messages as an alternative to actual conversations, there is another way to go. This is to record a message and send it as an attachment to an ordinary E-mail. Oh!... the things you can do with a multimedia computer.

A nice little freebee to use is Qualcomm's PureVoice Player / Recorder. This is the same company that produce Eudora E-mail programs but this utility works with all programs. If you can record a message onto an answering machine, you can have fun with this one!
Read all about it here.

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One final thought. The hardware I mentioned at the beginning amounts to having a speaker phone. Unless you want the rest of your family or neighbourhood looking around and muttering invest in a pair of headphones. If you really want to be cool buy a headset that includes the mic.

See you next week, but I will leave you with a thought. Why stop at voices?

The copyright of the article Do I hear voices? in Free Computer Software is owned by Brian Hughes. Permission to republish Do I hear voices? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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