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. Download Skype 4.0 here.