Microsoft is announcing the launch of a video hosting and sharing service, called Soapbox (http://soapbox.msn.com). The site’s iin beta so the best you can do is sign up for a beta at this time or get an invite from an existing beta user.
On the technical side, Soapbox will be crossplatform and support Flash as well as Windows Media technologies. You’ll have up to 100 megabytes according to Kurt Shintaku.
It’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft handles copyright issues here. Will XBox (and possibly Media Center and now Zune) enthusiasts be allowed or encouraged to generate fan movies from some or all of their content and share them on Soapbox? It would seem like a natural. Maybe this is all becoming a part of fair use anyway.
I do have one question about all of these video hosting services. Doesn’t it make video searching even more important? For instance, if someone tells you to go online and check out the video of the cat that does a flip over a guys head, how do you find it? And what if the video is posted on 32 different services in 4 different variations? Can a search tool practically match the videos up and provide you with a more concise view?
As more and more videos get put online, searching is becoming more and more important. Personally, I don’t find YouTube’s search and list box view all that useful. In fact, when I want to find a video, I go to Google. There’s lots more to do here.