IM + Facebook + Email = Digsby

Digsby is a new, multi-network IM client that connects to all the big IM networks — AIM, ICQ, WLM, Yahoo, Google Talk and Jabber — and can integrate with your email, Facebook and Myspace accounts. Digsby’s goal is to give you one place to manage your online contacts.

Digsby has just been released in a private beta, and tonight I had a chance to play around with it. If you’re the type of person who loves living on the bleeding edge of technology, leave a reply and I’ll send you an invite.

What follows are my very early impressions; look for a more detailed review in a few days.

The Install went very smoothly, although by default, Digsby wants to launch automatically when I start my computer, and change my homepage. These are two things I absolutly hate, but I unchecked them (in spite of what you see below).

Once installed, you configure it to connect to your various IM, email and social network accounts. Digsby supports the AIM, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger (WLM), Google Talk, and Jabber IM networks. I was able to easily connect to all with one exception. I got authentication errors when trying to connect to Yahoo! Messenger. This surprised me, especially since Digsby was able to connect to my Yahoo! Mail. The Yahoo errors have been corrected! Build 12111 has resolved the problem. I can now properly login to Yahoo Messenger via Digsby!

For email, Digsby supports Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, GMail, IMAP and POP3 accounts — pretty much covering all the bases. For each email account you add you’ll see an icon on the status bar with the number of unread emails. Hover over the account name in your buddy list and you’ll see a preview of them, with quick links to common tasks (reply, delete, etc.).

Digsby also connects to social networks, giving you access to the latest status of your friends and other activity. Currently, Digsby supports both Facebook and Myspace. The integration with Facebook is best, and their is even a Digsby widget for your Facebook profile. With Myspace, you get the status and updates, but to take an action, Digsby launches a browser and takes you to the full Myspace website. It might be nice if they used a mini-browser and the mobile version of the site, but only as an option.

Chats appear neatly tabbed, buddy icons (display pics, avatars, or whatever your IM network calls them) work great. File transfers mostly worked. I tested with my friend Dave, and we were able to get transfers working on the WLM network, but while Dave could send me files via the AIM network, my attempt to send a file was never received. I chalk it up to beta software.

Customization

You can easily change the appearance of the buddy list and chat windows, and Digsby also allows for different skins or themes — or you can create your own.

Voice and Webcam Support

Digsby does not include voice or video support at this time, but that’s no big surprise. This product is clean, fast and well-integrated. I like the concept, and it appears to be well thought out.

You can check out all of my screenshots here on Flickr, or visit the Digsby website for more information.

If you want to try it out, use the invite code bigblue.

Check back this weekend for our a complete review.