Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Skype, iChat, FaceTime, AIM....Which Service Do You Use?

..

  • Skype

    Votes: 14 41.2%

  • iChat

    Votes: 6 17.6%

  • FaceTime

    Votes: 4 11.8%

  • AIM

    Votes: 1 2.9%

  • Other..

    Votes: 9 26.5%
  • Total voters
    34
HappyDude20

HappyDude20

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
3,688
1,479
Los Angeles, Ca
I've come to realize that an array of friends and family use all sorts of messaging service. This is becoming increasingly important considering soon i'll be packing up and moving to Japan for 6 months; where it'll be important to keep in contact with family.

Skype: I enjoy Skype, considering for a low monthly fee it allows me to make free calls. Something that'll come in handy when i'm abroad, needing to make local calls and even free Skype to Skype calls. Currently, only my best friend has Skype...and uncle, lol, but hardly keep in touch with him.

iChat: I enjoy this program, though currently only my sister logs on. She's also the only other family member that has a Mac as well. We enjoy sharing files, but more-so sharing each others screen. This has allowed us to get actual school work done, considering she's in New York and i'm in Cali...and soon to be Japan. & though we haven't done this, I know we can both sit down on different ended Macs and watch the same iTunes movie at the same time.

FaceTime: I'll be first to say that I hate the quality of FaceTime. Skype and even Gmail's Google Talk have incredibly better video quality...but FaceTime seems to be the popular choice here, considering both my mom and dad just got iPhones, alongside with my sister. Also, another buddy has a Mac and we've FaceTimed a bit too.

AIM: I haven't used the AIM app since getting a Mac back in 2006, but I still use my AIM SN, which is connected to my Google Talk and iChat as well...

..I know there are others but really these are the ones that seems most prevalent. Just wondering about you guys.
 
I use multiple services ... mainly AIM and Skype. AIM for text based conversations, and Skype for video. (AIM's video servers suck ... frequent disconnect, trash quality). I use iChat as a client for AIM.

Just curious, how come you're moving to Japan? And do you know Japanese?
 
wordoflife said:
I use multiple services ... mainly AIM and Skype. AIM for text based conversations, and Skype for video. (AIM's video servers suck ... frequent disconnect, trash quality). I use iChat as a client for AIM.

Just curious, how come you're moving to Japan? And do you know Japanese?
Click to expand...

I'm moving to go teach for 6 months, though the time there is tentative. MY sister is also graduating from university in NY, so in a few months i'll be secretly flying from Japan to NY, without telling anyone to surprise her and see her graduate. The rest of the family is a bit disappointed that I can't make it to her graduation, but little do they know the flight from Japan to NY has been booked.

As for the messaging services, FaceTime is the most used so far, though I really like iChat, considering it can do a bit more. I really hope Apple combines the programs after this initial beta that's currently out.
 
HappyDude20 said:
I'm moving to go teach for 6 months, though the time there is tentative. MY sister is also graduating from university in NY, so in a few months i'll be secretly flying from Japan to NY, without telling anyone to surprise her and see her graduate. The rest of the family is a bit disappointed that I can't make it to her graduation, but little do they know the flight from Japan to NY has been booked.

As for the messaging services, FaceTime is the most used so far, though I really like iChat, considering it can do a bit more. I really hope Apple combines the programs after this initial beta that's currently out.
Click to expand...

That is really cool! If you don't mind me asking, what are you going to go teach? Oh, do you speak Japanese?
 
I said other, because in Adium I have AIM, YIM and MSN all and probly use them equally. I have no preference, just whoever happens to be be on using whatever.

I prefer Skype, though..
 
wordoflife said:
That is really cool! If you don't mind me asking, what are you going to go teach? Oh, do you speak Japanese?
Click to expand...

I'll be teaching English. I do not speak japanese at all but I'm going to learn it when I'm out there. When I lived in china I picked up the language but have since forgotten it. However Japanese is a language im truly motivated in learning.
 
I used to use AIM - not because I like it, but because everyone uses it.

But I've largely abandoned AIM and replaced it with texting. I use FaceTime for video calls because the interface is easy to use. Quality-wise it's fine. Skype might be better, but I hate the program.

So... yeah. I picked FaceTime :)
 
I chose other.

I use gmail chat with both my personal email and my school email (google apps FTMFW) and actively chat on both of these daily. I used to be on aim, but i cannot remember the last time i used that.

I skype and facetime (both with my phone) every now and again as well. mostly skype to talk to family and facetime with friends.
 
Facebook chat most of the time (even though it is more unstable than AIM).
Facetime with 2 of my good friends from college. Never wanted to Skype, never want to.


Haven't used IM (Adium) in about 3 years, definitely don't miss it.


If you want to get ahold of me, you've got my phone number text me is my thinking.
 
Facebook chat is a pain in the ass to use. It is so clunky I try to avoid it.
 
Skype: Don't really like this service.
iChat: I use it, but only as a client for my ICQ account.
FaceTime: I use this multiple times a day, as my girlfriend and I use this as an alternative to phone calls.
AIM: Since ICQ is now part of AIM, I guess I use this.
Other: None.
 
Wow...I remember when everyone used AIM and you would have like 200 buddies on at once and 20+ windows open...I log onto AIM once every few months and rarely are more than 5 people on. I use Skype but only professionally. I honestly hate all communication technologies that are not in-person.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back