14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's YouTube killer has been reloaded and is now back on track and opened to the public. The Redmond Company announced it was making the beta services available only to the select initial testers in mid March 2007. Microsoft no longer permitted new users to access its online viral video service, as Soapbox was undergoing a series of changes, both at the surface and under the hood.
At the end of April 2007, Microsoft delivered a revamped version of the Soapbox beta build, with a strong focus on a new graphical user interface, enhanced navigation and of course performance. With the overhauling Microsoft now allowed users to upload videos with no time limit, introduced support for simultaneous video watching and sharing via Messenger Activity Window, presented High Quality Video Encoding, allowed viewers to embed a single player but with multiple videos, etc. However, the new features were available exclusively to the existing Soapbox members.
Well, no more. Microsoft has reopened Soapbox beta to the general public following the introduction of content filtering technologies designed to manage copyrighted materials. "We have just opened Soapbox on MSN Video for full video viewing. You no longer need to be signed into the service to view Soapbox videos! However just as before, you still need to sign in to upload, comment, tag or rate videos. The Embedded Player is also available for full viewing and embedding. While it might not be visible, we have spent the last month working hard on improving our backend, to make encoding and performance as scalable as possible. We are also now conducting proactive filtering of all uploaded content, using technology from Audible Magic," revealed a member of the Soapbox team.
Performance and encoding improvements together with the additional backend tweaks, are in this context adjacent to Microsoft's efforts to safeguard against copyright infringement with the integration of CopySense technology from Audible Magic. Microsoft hopes that with this initiative it will manage to avoid the infringement issues faced by YouTube.
"Audible Magic bases their filtering on the video's audio track and their database is being updated constantly. By using this technology, we see this as an important step to ensure the viability and success of Soapbox over the long run. We are committed to provide a great experience for people to find and share their personal videos on Soapbox on MSN Video," the Soapbox team member added.