Here is where people
One frequently finds,
Lower their voices
And raise their minds.
—- Richard Armour on libraries

Libraries. Even if we don’t set foot in one, it’s comforting to know they’re there: massive silent repositories of thoughts, polemics and conversations that mankind has managed to produce in spite of its lower instincts. Some countries even celebrate the Library Workers’ Day on April 15, just a couple of weeks from now.

When it comes to libraries, Skype hasn’t sat idle either. That’s because today we’re announcing the beta version of Skype 3.8 for Windows, which contains an improved and optimized audio library. No need to lower your voice here. Let rip, for speaking your mind never sounded so good on Skype before.

Here’s the main rub:

— Significantly reduced background noise
— Less delay
— Fewer call drops
— Fewer cut-outs
— Change your headset, headphones or microphone without having to fiddle with settings

In addition, we’ve hidden the avatar by default in incoming authorization requests. Some people have been using images that others don’t find all that pleasing, so this measure should help clean things up. The release includes a few other things — see the full change log on Skype’s Garage blog.

Now, if you’d like to give the new beta version a try, go ahead and download it.