Okay, I guess I am late to this technology, since I have had access to full-featured video and web-conferencing tools via Macromedia Breeze and have not experimented with the consumer tools.
It is easy to install and use Skype, which is a telephone-like system for the computer that is free! It even allows the participants to talk at the same time...gotta love the ability to interrupt! I am doing a test next week to see if I can participate in an interview over Skype which will then be turned into a Podcast. I will let you know how it works!
-Kathy