Hi,

I have been a bit curious about webcams. A friend has just lent me his iSight to demo.

So last night I set it up and it was very easy to get going so that I could see myself on screen. Next I thought I would venture into iChat. This is where I get a bit confused as to what it is all about.

Last night, when I first opened iChat, a process started where by I was prompted to open a Mac account. This was needed to use iChat, I was told. It has to be a regular iChat account-not the free 60 day demo.

As this is an experiment for me I am reluctant to spend approx 90$ for this at the moment.

My next attempt was to go to Yahoo. As I went through Yahoo and got to the webcam/chat area, I found myself again in iChat and needing an account??

I hope the above is clear, but I must confess that I am not(clear that is) as to exactly what iChat is supposed to do as an application.

My question (as clear as I can make it) is: Can someone either explain iChat/Yahoo chat to me or point me towards a link that can?

Thanks in advance

iChat is a great application for web-camming. One thing it does really well, is sync with the AOL Instant Messenger (www.aim.com) servers. You can obtain one of these accounts for free from the same site. I've been using an AIM account with iChat since iChat was available and never once owned a .Mac account.

Having an AIM account will allow you to connect both to other AIM users and .Mac users as well using iChat. PC users can also connect with you (for webcamming) as long as they have the latest version of AIM and Windows XP.

Good luck.. it really is a fun program to use. :)

...I was told. It has to be a regular iChat account-not the free 60 day demo.
You were told wrong. Sign up for the demo and when the demo time is up you will still retain the .Mac address for iChat, but not for email.

You were told wrong. Sign up for the demo and when the demo time is up you will still retain the .Mac address for iChat, but not for email.

Thanks, I'll try both options.

Yeah the demo is fine. I've had my .mac account back from the old iTools day back in OS 9 when it was still free, and cancelled it when they started charging for it. It's also your Apple account name, so if you need to you can log into their web store, and also access iTunes music store. It's good to have an Apple account.

vince