Saturday, November 17, 2007

Stream music/radio to incoming Skype calls

Aj aj aj... Sweden plays Spain in a EURO2008 qualification game in a few hours, I am in the California, and I was going to listen to the game live on Internet Radio (broadcasted by www.sr.se). But now I realized I might not have access to Internet where I am at the time. What to do?

Ok, I've a cell phone plan with 5000 free weekend minutes a month and I've got a Skype In number. There must be a way to call my Skype number, have the Skype client automatically answer my call and play back whatever is playing on my computer. Here is how to do it in Windows XP (you'll need a Skype In number which is not free).
  1. Go to the "Master Volume" control (double click on the speaker icon in the tray bar).
    a) Open menu 'Options | Properties...' and select 'Recording'. Make sure "Stereo Mix" is selected. Click OK.
    b) You should now see the "Recording Control" (instead of the Master Volume) dialog. Select 'Stereo Mix' as your input (typically it is set to 'Microphone').

  2. Go to http://www.sr.se/ and play the radio station (or some other audio player).
    (The radio station should now be play in your speakers).

  3. Open Skype. Go to menu 'Tools | Options...' and:
    a) Go to 'Call Settings' and expand with 'Show Advanced Options'. Select 'Automatically answer incoming calls'.
    b) Go to 'Audio Settings' and turn down the 'Speakers' volume to zero. The select 'Windows default device' for 'Microphone' and select 'Let Skype adjust my audio settings'.
    (The microphone indicator bar should now correlate with the playing sound).
    c) Click 'Save'.

  4. Mute or turn down the volume of your computer. Call your Skype In number. You should now hear the radio in your phone.

That's it! Don't forget to reset the above when you're done!

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