Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK
Image via CrunchBase
Since early yesterday morning I’ve been running the Skype 4.0 final release on a number of my PC’s. Skype announced the new software, and I grabbed it before heading to the office. For several months now, I’ve also been running the Skype 4.0 betas in the same environment, except on my HP mini netbook, where the 4.0 UI was a little large for it’s diminutive screen.
Skype 4.0 is the best Skype yet, bar none. Skype has streamlined the user experience in multiple ways – from install, to call setup, IM, and more. In the process they’ve made Skype more accessible to more users than ever before. SkypeJournal has two detailed posts on the new Skype user experience and how it was designed which describe this in more detail than I will here.
Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, is audio quality. We all thought that Skype audio was great, right? Skype’s internally developed SILK codec slipped into the final release, despite not having been in prior betas. A wideband codec that delivers the goods at half the bitrate of prior codecs, SILK makes talking on Skype a pure pleasure. I had calls yesterday from Andy Abramson at the ITEXPO show in Miami, and Jim Courtney from his home in Mississauga. The difference is noticeable, and worth the download alone.
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February 4th, 2009 at 9:13 am
well i love skype for sure.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Do you think that this new wideband codec can be applied or re-configured in order to work with other voip services in the future? I feel that if so, skype could sell the codec to other providers to create a new revenue stream, or maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, what do you think?
February 4th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
That’s a business question for Skype leadership Frank. Technology is technology, and where there’s a will, there’s a way. I’ve heard via the grapevine, however, that the codec is designed to be able to be dropped into silicon. If so, then you might expect new devices with this capability to come to market.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:44 am
[...] Saunders: Saunderslog.com: Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK: Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, is audio quality. We all thought that Skype audio was [...]
May 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
[...] say about it this week, including David Pogue of the New York Times, Andy Abramson of VOIP Watch, Alec Saunders, and CNET among [...]
June 11th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
[...] Alec Saunders: Saunderslog.com: Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK: [...]
June 11th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
[...] Saunders: Saunderslog.com: Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK: Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, is audio quality. We all thought that Skype audio was [...]