Browsing around today, I noticed a pretty amazing price break on the Skype FREETALK wireless stereo headset. 15% off!!!  This is the best price you will find a wireless USB headset anywhere, anytime soon.  If I were you, I would snag one and start experiencing a better way to use your PC’s multimedia application.  This product was our first headset based on our AudioMagic 1st generation chipset…making it to the market late last year.  It’s a no-brainer application… and if you take the leap, early adoptor, you’ll find it’s a pretty liberating new category in PC accessories.

Cool impromptu interview with Creative’s marketing folks by Gaming Shogun. Unfortunately, I think the guy from Creative confused some folks when he said compression technology. This product uses Avnera’s chipset and wireless audio protocol. I can firmly state that this is uncompressed audio. It is full bandwidth, 48 KHz stereo to the headphones, and wideband 16 KHz on the voice back-channel. As he said, the protocol is full duplex. I’ve read some interesting threads around the internet about this interview, and gamers have every reason to be skeptical with all the noise out there in the market, in general. But I am pretty confident the audio quality of this headset will impress even the most difficult-to-please.

Press Release

Some of the highlights:

Acoustic Research Wireless Music Remote

Acoustic Research Wireless PC Minibridge

Audioengine AW1

HM-W300 Sanyo Digital Wireless Microphone System (Japan only)

Skype Certified FREETALK Wireless Stereo Headset

As well…

• Creative HS 1200 (incorrectly aka Tag Heuer)
  
• VIDEO: PCWorld coverage from Showstoppers
• PODCAST: Computer America Show, Interview

More on this in the coming… however here are some links about Creative’s new entrant into the wireless PC headset today at CES.

• CNET Video
• Gizmodo

Recognized along with other notable products from Blackberry and Nokia, as well as mobile software from Google and Sling Media, it’s humbling and pleasing to note that a product enabled by Avnera’s chips was keeping such good company.  And I quote:

FreeTalk Wireless Stereo Headset: This one continues to perform and make my entire PC audio experience - media players, SlingPlayer, Skype calls more enjoyable.

Skype Journal, itself, was recently recognized as one of the Top-25 VoIP blogs on the web.  Jim Courtney was keeping good company himself with the likes of Pulver and Malik.

Thanks Jim.

Engadget jumps to lots of conclusions in this recent post about the FCC’s outing of Creative’s wireless stereo headset. I think the guys over there are digging for a scoop where maybe there isn’t one. The LTB reference is unfounded, and the code name “Tag Heuer” is more likely just that, an internally used code-name for the project, rather than a co-branding strategy with the watchmaker.

The graphic shown on Engadget is pulled from the draft user manual. I am hypothesizing that this is a draft because it in no way reflects the aesthetics of Creative’s printed literature. Something I’d imagine they’d want to match.

But enough about Engadget’s take…

Either way, it should be getting more clear that this is a practical, and exciting new product segment. Gamers, VoIPers, Slingboxers, and Slackers rejoice. I would think all you college freshman out there should be jumping all over this. If your dorm experience is anything like mine was, this is the perfect tool to drown out your room-mate’s classic rock, or your neighbor’s obsession with Erasure, and let you study/sleep/procrastinate in your own world.

In my trolling for product chatter related to Avnera, I found myself at one of my favorite corporate-sponsored blogs, Skype Gear, Skype’s own blog on hardware, which merely mentioned the FREETALK wireless stereo headset.  But alas, no review yet… we’re looking forward to it when it hits.

What peeked my interest was their mention of the 3 Skypephone.  I think we’re heading where I hope we’re heading.  More bandwidth for IP-only traffic on my handset, please.

Jim Courtney at Skype Journal put the FREETALK through the paces, and offered his first impressions… and I quote:

Today is my day of liberation!… Beethoven’s 9th has finished now; the pianissimo phrases were soft, the chorale fortes did not distort; you could clearly hear every word of the chorus in the fourth movement. On finishing the first draft of this post I received a Skype call, answered the front doorbell and let the dog back in at the back door, all while continuing the conversation. At US$79 or £50, this is probably the one most useful new technology hardware item for everyone on your gift list with either a Windows or Mac PC.

Read the full article here.

Very good sign. The FREETALK Wireless Stereo Headset has been on sale since before Thanksgiving, but is finally in stock! It is already listed as a bestseller which is no suprise to me, since my prototype set has been a trustworthy travel companion for over 8 months now.

• For any business traveller who uses Skype, watches Slingbox, or listens to music in their hotel room… the FREETALK rocks.
• For any college student who does it all on the PC… the FREETALK rocks.
• For any players of World of Warcraft… the FREETALK rocks.
• And shhh… because it’s a standard USB Audio device, for any users of Google Talk, Ventrilo, AIM, Live Messenger… the FREETALK rocks.

I am biased to be sure… one because I am modestly vested in the success of this product category, but also because I love this product.

Here is a quick troubleshooting guide for new users, from an early adopter of this unit…

1. Those who may find the ear-cups not sitting just right, try twisting the wire portions of the band to get the right angle to match your ear. I did that 8 months ago, and it works like a charm. I’d have designed the headband a little different for fit, myself, but I guess it does kinda look different and cool enough…. my only gripe.
2. Mac users, after you plug in the first time, you may need to go to audio control panel to manually select the USB Audio device. Successive uses, should automatically switch to the headset.
3. To mute the microphone, simply tilt the microphone boom all the way up, you will feel a slight detent when the boom is all the way up. To un-mute the microphone, simply swing the mic back down. This muting takes place completely in the headset, so you will not see it reflected on-screen in the Skype call window
4. In order to make the Skype call answer button work, for Windows version, you must enable hotkeys…
   1. Go to Tools > Options > Advanced > Hotkeys
   2. Check “Enable keyboard shortcuts”
   3. Check “Answer Call”
   4. Make sure Answer Call hotkey is set to “Alt-PgUp” (which is the default on most installs of Skype).

Enjoy! Comments welcome here. I am happy to add to the troubleshooting guide if needed.

SkypeJournal’s recent series on Skype’s forward moving strategies included a discussion on the relevance of hardware. Well this Christmas, a piece of hardware near and dear to my heart will be ready to ship. I’ve written about the FREETALK in another post, so no need to repeat.

The nicest thing about this device… it is a very simple and elegant hardware solution that imporves the way *current* Skype users experience voice chat.

The reason I believe in the FREETALK headset so much, is that it is geared for the hear-and-now. It does not distract Skype-users from the now — it does not promise a usage model that is not mature, and similarly it does not try to attach legacy behaviors to a modern experience, which Skype is rightfully so.

Many other types of Skype hardware — which you will see sold on Skype.com — come in the form of gear that is trying to bring Skype to Skype-non-users by appealing to lagcy usage models. The most popular tactic is to make the hardware look like a old-fashioned desk-telephone, and allow the user to use simple number-dialing to place calles on the skype network. To me, this is a hard sell. If this usage model is so important, then the user won’t value the new features… and then you gotta sell on lower cost, and even that’s a pretty complicated message to convey. To realize the added value of Skype, you gotta teach people about then new features. People who are willing and able to grok this, are already more attached to their PCs, anyways.

The other way Skype is trying to branch out via hardware is by hopping onto other broadband enabled platforms… wi-fi phones or 3G mobiles. Today, that too is cumbersome at best. Perhaps Android has ways of addressing this, but today, Skype on a 3G handset only competes against the entrenched telephony service. If a user runs Skype on their mobile phone, first of all, it’s a rare breed who can connect all the dots, and even then it’s a niche long-distance, world traveller scenario that can realize any real benefit.

I’m rambling a bit… the key is, the FREETALK leaves all these wish-ware devices for the early-early adopters. The FREETALK is hear to help last year’s early adopters of Skype, break away from their desktop, and roam free about the house while using their favorite VoIP service that has become part of their connected repertoire.

They’ll also find it a damn good PC accessory.