discord is a chat server system ,with voice support.
the audio is on par with or a bit better than skype. unlike skype , you can change various settings. $micro$oft appears to be "dumbing down" skype possibly in an effort to push people like podcasters into the pro version.
this is why we use discord.
here is a brief explanation on signup with discord. it specifies android, but is very similar on all platforms. supported are :
ios
mac osx
android
linux
windows 7/8/8.1/10
anything with a modern web browser and javscript support.
you will need an invite to join a server. i will post that each day there is a podcast.
quite frankly, on windows/linux/mac i would use the web browser as opposed to the app. it seems you cannot close the app normally (red x or right click on it and quit) and have to use a task manager to kill it. it says it "has more features" but ive not found them.
once in discord you will have some options to:
text messaging similar to the chat room here
rt click menu will reveal more options
you can click on voice or other channels to join those
set audio/video (yes video) options and a whole slew of other options
mute/unmute yourself (mic and/or output) , unless a mod/host muted you, then a mod/host has to unmute you.
and more