Paltalk newbie warning...

Just started using Paltalk last night, and some good music was happening (top singing, Frank!). Trouble is, strange things were happening to the sound too. Solo singers and spoken word sounded OK, but anyone playing guitar had loads of snap, crackle and pop.

Is this a feature of the Paltalk system? Is it likely to be my end producing it as it tries to compress the signal down a weedy 33K line? Or is it on the instrumentalist's end, as their signal gets fed down their weedy 33K line? If so, is there some minimum bandwidth that'll let music go through OK? Or is it fundamental to the Paltalk software, since I know Mudcat Radio (RealPlayer) goes through without significant distortion at low bandwidths? Or could it even be that my (slightly old) PC doesn't have the horse-power to run the Paltalk compression fast enough?

I know Paltalk say that their minimum spec is a 28K modem and a P133, but we all know what "minimum" means when attached to computer hardware requirements! Could anyone suggest realistic minimum speeds, both for listening in and for singing? and a realistic minimum computer speed? I'm on a P233 with a 33K link - would this have enough juice?

Also, is it possible to disable the microphone, so that I don't accidentally press Ctrl and start sending? Ctrl-delete when editting text is my downfall! And is there anything that'll set the microphone permanently on, so that you don't need to hold the key down? apart from a large weight or half a clothes-peg, of course.

Cheers folks,

Grab.