paltalk.com > Reviews (7)

O.K, so I’m a bachelor. Hey, life in a bachelor pad can be very enjoyable, but there are times (especially in the dead of winter, stuck out on this windswept raft of land I call home) where cabin fever kicks in and you just want to talk to someone. So you call your friends. And where are they? They’ve all got timeshares in Guatemala or Alicante or Penrith or something. So what do you do?

You sign up with Paltalk, that’s what.

Now, look. Before I go any further, being sad and lonely is not a pre-requisite with chat programs. It just often seems that way. There is a stereotype of the chatroom denizen, huddling over the monitor, checking for fresh blackheads to squeeze in the reflection on their monitor and breathing irregularly. Not entirely accurate, I’m afraid. Like all stereotypes though, it’s based in fact. And if you start using Paltalk, I guarantee you that even the most well-balanced individuals will spend alarming and prodigious amounts of time huddled over their monitors.

The blackheads part is up to you.

So what’s the script with Paltalk then? Well, Paltalk is an online community involving chatrooms, video conferencing, pc-to-phone calls, instant messaging, and now Multivideo Rooms (where you can see 3 other people who are chatting to you simultaneously as well as a preview of your own cam) and all for free! That stuff is all well and good, but where Paltalk really comes into its own is when it comes to voice chat.

I used to use Excite Voice Chat, until they had to close down that particular service (presumably because it was popular and people used it a lot). It was actually great fun. Friendships were struck up which have lasted. So I was (to put it mildly) just a teensy bit peeved when the darn thing was axed. As were many others. So I was delighted to hear about Paltalk.

All you have to do to sign up is go to Paltalk’s website (http://www.paltalk.com) and download the program. When you’ve installed it and logged on as a user, you are free to hop about from room to room, within many different chat groups (chat by region, language, sports, music etc). Using a microphone and pressing your trusty ctrl key, you can chat to your new-found friends with the ease of a walky-talky. Clever, eh?

Now, if you happen to be a singer or a musician, the fun really begins! By propping a heavy object (dictionary, ashtray, drummer etc.) on your ctrl key, you can hold it open and perform little mini-gigs to people all over the planet. Nifty. The community are generally very friendly and there is a heavy emphasis on mutual respect. Of course, since you never have to physically meet these people, the respect is quite easy to maintain.

Not like those mates of yours who are swanning off to Tarragona and leaving you at home in the rain.