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How many times has this happened to you - you’ve told someone how amazing Skype is, you convinced them to download it and then when you go to use it for the first time you have to have a one way conversation since your new inductee to the world of Skype doesn’t own a microphone.

My mate, Scott Hunstad, who took over management of MTGParadise.com recently taught me a surprising lesson that is a great work around this problem.

Did you know that you can use a set of headphones as a mic?

Yes it’s true those little earbuds you have for your iPod or discman, or for that matter any speakers you have lying around the house function as a microphone. Most people own a set of headphone earbuds so if you ever have someone give you the excuse that they don’t have a mic you can offer a temporary solution to demonstrate how good Skype really is and have a proper two way conversation.

Recently Scott, who lives in Sydney, and I had a conversation over Skype and he was using headphones to talk to me because he has been too slack to buy a proper mic. He had to keep the bud right up next to his mouth and the quality wasn’t great, it sounded like he was walking away from me and then close up again as his voice volume kept dropping. I was planning on conducting an interview with him for a podcast but we postponed because the quality wasn’t consistent.

Just over the weekend my friend Shweta called from India. She’s a Skype newbie and had been chatting with her fiancé Cameron, who lives in Gladstone, a small city in Queensland which is north from my hometown, Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. They had been having one way Skype conversations with Shweta typing in a chat window and Cameron talking through a mic. When Shweta and I started our chat I told her about the headphones trick and she gave it a go. The quality was superb, actually much better than my chat with Scott and that was only a Sydney to Brisbane call, this was Brisbane to Bangalore.

You learn something new everyday!