Using Phone Headset With Skype on MacBooks
Don’t tell anyone, but right now I am on a conference call with the GigaOM team discussing editorial topics. We conference the team in from all over the world using Skype on the computer and it works well.
Normally I use my USB headset to make sure the audio quality is good enough for the call, but today I wanted to go with an easier solution. I use Skype on the MacBook and I decided to use the Bang & Olufsen headset for the iPhone. I plug it into the audio out jack on the MacBook and the jack passes both input and output. This means the headset works as well with Skype on the MacBook as it does on the iPhone for calls. It’s much more comfortable for long calls than the bulky USB headset, so give it a try if you have a good audio headset. Thanks to Kevin for the idea.
Now I’m sure that there are other notebooks this will work on other than MacBooks, so no slamming. It’s what I have so I know it works with the MB.
Have you tried this on say a Netbook? ThinkPad? Or is it just the MacBook that allows the audio out to also be audio in?
i believe this a feature on all the unibody mb’s and mbp’s. this doesn’t work on older models.
The audio out jack has to support both in and out for this to work.
Interesting — I tried a good quality iPhone headset on the audio out of my Dell notebook (work), and it didn’t work, so it never occurred to me to try on the Mac Book Pro (home). Must experiment later.
Hmmm stupid question from me: I thought Skype only supported one-to-one video calling. Are you doing voice calling only on your conf call?
I’ve been using the Apple in-ear headphones with my new 17-inch MBP for about a week. Volume control works. The “answer” button will pause QuickTime but doesn’t seem to do anything in Skype.
It almost makes up for the #$%!$#^& Mini Display Port thing. Almost.
Is it possible to sync a bluetooth headset with a PC and use it for skype or other voip calling?
Yes, it’s more than possible. I have done this with a planteonicus and a motorola headset