LiveSide - News blog : Soapbox

Soapbox video recovery: not so bad

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:55:56 GMT

Lately all of our favorite services seem to be crapping out on us. We told you about the upcoming demise of MSN Soapbox, where we have a number of videos hosted. Users have until August 31, 2009 to head to video.msn.com, log in, and download their videos before they are lost forever. July 29th was the first day that a download link was available to even be able to get videos off the service, so today we somewhat reluctantly headed over to download our interviews. Hey, it wasn’t so bad!

After logging in and going to “my profile”, we first hovered over a video to find the download link:

While we had to download each video individually (and rename it from the default hashed name), we were pleasantly surprised by the speed of the download:

Speeds will vary of course depending on your internet connection, but seeing as how sometimes it took 2-3 hours to get a video uploaded and ready for viewing on Soapbox, we were happy with the download speed.

So all of our video interviews are safely stashed. To be honest we may wait a bit before we make them available again (after they go dark on Aug 31). YouTube looks to be out as a replacement, as it has a 10 minute limit, and most of our interviews run a bit over that. We’re also looking at whether we want to continue using our blog software, Community Server, so it may not be worth all the work to replace links just yet. CS is a great product, but we think we’ve found something that fits our needs a little better. We’ll know more in a few weeks, but we might as well make these changes all at once. We’re glad to have the interviews safe and sound for now, though.

One other note: the service we use to power “Blogs We Like”, Newsgator Online, is also shutting down, ironically on the same day, August 31. (Newsgator is doing fine, and their free RSS Readers, News Demon for Windows, and NetNewsWire for Mac, will continue to be available,just the free online service is closing). We’re not quite sure what we’re going to do about that, either. Funny but all these services seem to have the same advice: “go use Google”. Bleh.

More soon, as we get it all figured out. We’re not going anywhere, and we’re looking forward to bringing you lots of Windows Live news in the upcoming months, no matter what services we find ourselves using.

Oh snap. MSN to discontinue Soapbox (we’re screwed)

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:03:00 GMT

Here’s one from the “saw this coming from a mile away” department. After “scaling back” the user uploaded video service last month, today an email confirmed that the other shoe has dropped, and that MSN Soapbox will be closing. Users will not be able to upload video to Soapbox beginning July 29, with all content unavailable (read: gone) after August 31, 2009. Here’s the full text of an email sent out to Soapbox users today:

Attention Soapbox Users,

MSN will no longer offer Soapbox, the user generated video service within MSN Video, as of August 31, 2009. Beginning on July 29, you will no longer be able to upload videos to Soapbox. People who have uploaded videos to Soapbox will have until August 31, 2009 to download them. Please make sure you download your videos by this date if you would like to keep them. We will have a notice running in the Soapbox service to remind you to download your videos. It is our goal that you download and keep all of the videos you uploaded that are important to you. Online video is a key part of the MSN experience and we will continue to offer a rich experience on MSN Video. We will also continue to invest in delivering great customer experiences, while keeping a keen eye on our business objectives during this tough economic climate. Thank you for your support of MSN Video. More details and download instructions are available at: http://video.msn.com/shutdown.html

Thank you for using Soapbox.

The MSN Video Team

Since LiveSide has tried to “eat the dogfood” and use Microsoft and Windows Live products wherever we can, what this means for us is an enjoyable month of downloading (at some agonizingly slow speed, we’re sure) the video interviews we’ve had hosted on Soapbox, and setting them up to be hosted on our own server. We have the space and the bandwidth (not really a problem as old interviews aren’t in high demand), so we’re only out the time this will take us, and the annoyance. A lot of work just to maintain our old content, but hey if we didn’t like pain we wouldn’t deal with Microsoft to begin with! After that, we’ll probably follow Bing’s lead and open a YouTube channel (Warning: clicking on that link may subject you to that awful Bing Jingle contest, be forewarned).

UPDATE: Just to clarify (and to make this whole mess even more enjoyable), you can't actually download MSN Soapbox videos until July 29th. From the FAQ:

Q: Can I recover the videos I’ve uploaded to Soapbox?
A: Yes, on July 29, 2009 log into your personal profile, roll over the thumbnail of the video you want to keep and click on the download link that appears.

Soapbox To Become A Forum For Bloggers And Citizen Journalists?

Sunshine — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:40:32 GMT

In the coming months, Microsoft plans to significantly scale back Soapbox, the user generated video site hosted on MSN Video. In an interview on Tuesday, Microsoft Vice President Erik Jorgensen said Soapbox is one of the areas that Microsoft is pulling back on in the wake of a tough economic environment.

He told CNET News that Microsoft hopes to transform Soapbox into a forum where bloggers and citizen journalists can post videos relevant to areas in which MSN focuses, categories like entertainment, lifestyle, and finance.

"We definitely look at it and say we want Soapbox to stand for something and add to our overall video strategy," Jorgensen said.

A video-forum eh? Will people still be able to freely upload there videos or will there be some sort of editorial selection before the uploaded videos make it onto the site? Nobody knows yet, not even Jorgensen:

"We haven't decided whether you just continue to support it or whether it is too expensive and out of our focus to do," he said.

Seattlepi reports that the Microsoft communication people walked a more cautious line saying there isn’t anything specific to announce about Soapbox at this time. We’ll just have to wait and see where this leads.

More on Wave 3: Windows Live Writer to support YouTube, Events and Photo Albums

damaster — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:52:00 GMT

Having told you about what's coming in Messenger, Mail, Movie Maker and Photo Gallery, it's now time to cover the next one in the series: Windows Live Writer. Let us start off with a screenshot for you:

We've noticed on the right pane that you can now insert "Events" (Windows Live Events?) and "Photo Albums" into your blogs. From the screenshot it's already showing what it will look like when you insert a Photo Album into your blog post - it even includes an option for slideshows.

The next screenshot shows that Windows Live Writer now supports directly uploading videos onto YouTube! Also take note of the tab "From Video Source" - the current version of Writer only mentions "From Soapbox", meaning the new version will support inserting videos from other video sources other than Soapbox as well. Keep in mind that Movie Maker will also support uploading videos onto MSN Soapbox, YouTube and other video sharing websites.

Thanks to Picturepan2 from LiveSino again for the info!

MSN Soapbox now part of MSN Video (beta)

Kip Kniskern — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:43:00 GMT

A number of changes to MSN Soapbox just occured, most notably that Soapbox is no longer a stand-alone site, but has become a tab at http://next.video.msn.com.

The old url for Soapbox, Soapbox.msn.com, now resolves to show the "Soapbox User Videos" tab.

In addition, according to Brandon LeBlanc at WindowsVistaBlog, changes in MSN Video "V4" include:

Enhanced copyright violation notifications
Improved encoding time, meaning videos are uploaded faster
A new Mini-Showcase
and a new wider design for the MSN Videos site

MSN Soapbox reopens to public with copyright content filtering

Chris — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 02:00:00 GMT

Today sees MSN Soapbox return to a public beta after having closed back in March. The reason given for the closure was that Microsoft needed time to deliver a technological solution to resolve the piracy issues that have plagued other user-generated video sites such as YouTube.

The relaunch sees several backend changes taking place, notably around performance and encoding. What is significant is that Soapbox is also adding CopySense technology from Audible Magic to automatically filter our copyright content. On top of this, content owners will be given access to automated tools allowing them to find and remove their copyrighted content. MSN Soapbox currently features a new UI that was launched at the end of April and brought the service much closer to MSN Video and the other MSN Entertainment websites.

While this is a move that will please the content owners and not the users, it'll be interesting to see how this and the YouTube lawsuit affects Sopabox's long term popularity. (YouTube is also integrating Audible Magic technology.)

Still to come is the new video site from NBC Universal, News Corp, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo to create "the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled with the most sought-after content from television and film. ...The video-rich site will debut this summer with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips, representing premium content from at least a dozen networks and two major film studios." With Microsoft already offering content from these providers on MSN Video, there seems to be the potential for some significant overlap here. Lots still to happen in this area for sure.

The Soapbox team now has a post up ~~but fails to mention the new copyright technology. Transparency guys.~~ Now they do.

New Soapbox and MSN Video launched

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:11:00 GMT

As we posted earlier, a new relaunched MSN Soapbox has been announced, and is available for trial for those who are in the Soapbox beta. In addition, a new version of MSN Videos, at next.video.msn.com has launched as well, and is available for anyone to view.

From the Soapbox on MSN Video blog:

Completely reworked from the ground up, the new Soapbox on MSN video now offers a clean UI with improved navigation and performance.
Some of the Upgraded Features:
- Scalable Page. Change the size of your browser and the thumbnails and page will scale dynamically.
- New Player with integrated Playlists and Progessive Download Indicators.
- Playlist Functionality. Each time you watch a video it is automatically added to the playlist.
The Playlist can also be shared.
- Improved Fullscreen Experience
- Video Gallery Sorts. Sort by Hour, Day etc.
- Updated Embedded Player with clean design and Playlist features

Soapbox Update

ScottIsAFool — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:11:00 GMT

A post on the Soapbox Team Blog has alerted users that a change is coming as the Soapbox site goes down for a couple of hours whilst they make some changes to both the front end and the back end of the service.

"We have taken all of your feedback into account and spent the last few months redesigning and upgrading, both the frontend and backend of the service."

So this means that whilst they are doing all this, none of the embedded videos or gadgets will work. In the meantime, what are they doing with UI? Well, basically, this:

The whole menu system has had a massive facelift, and now works in the same way you might expect a Windows application menu would work:

Browse Videos

MSN Soapbox closed to new users amid piracy concerns

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:38:06 GMT

ZDNet News is reporting that MSN Soapbox is being closed to new users for up to 2 months as Microsoft sorts out piracy issues. ZDNet quotes Adam Sohn, a director in Microsoft's online-services group, as saying that no new subscribers will be accepted, but anyone who has already signed up for Soapbox can continue to access the site. According to the story:

Sohn said the changes were not forced on Microsoft by its new partners, although he acknowledged that some of the content providers were very interested in how his company planned to clean up Soapbox.

"This software company is aligned very closely with the notion of intellectual-property rights," Sohn said. "We feel this is the right time to make these changes and stand up to do the right thing."

The news comes on the heels of an announcement between NBC Universal, News Corp., and AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo! to create "the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled with the most sought-after content from television and film. ...The video-rich site will debut this summer with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips, representing premium content from at least a dozen networks and two major film studios."

Lots of interesting positioning going on as the battle for video distribution rights begins to play out. Should be quite an interesting space to watch in the coming months.

MSN Soapbox is now public beta

ScottIsAFool — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 06:31:37 GMT

MSN Soapbox has been in an invite only state for a few months now, but today sees it enter its public beta phase, so no more waiting to get in and see what the fuss is about.

For those who are unfamiliar with Soapbox and want to send your favourite links to friends and family, the Soapbox Team Blog has a great entry on the permalinks that are available, as the links are not apparent at all in the Soapbox interface. You can read that here.

So head on over to http://soapbox.msn.com/ and enjoy all the video goodness .

Update: Official announcement on the team blog here.

Windows Live @ CES

Chris — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:32:00 GMT

As lots of technology bloggers are going to CES, we thought we’d level the playing field a bit for those who aren’t. With journalists from the big press organisations in attendance, CES provides the perfect opportunity for Windows Live to raise brand awareness by securing column inches for upcoming products. Here are the ones we’ve heard they’ll be seeing, with releases coming soon:

OneCare 1.5
Messenger 8.1
Mail & Mail Desktop
Soapbox
Mobile Messenger "G2" client

Windows Live Search also has a presence at the exhibition (they are offering free swag if you visit their booth), unfortunately as Mary Jo Foley posted recently, Live Drive appears to be staying out of sight for the time being.

So what about some new stuff? At CES 2006 Harrison picked up the chatter on Microsoft Gadget integration with Spaces and this time around the Spaces team has set up a CES Space. We’ll have to wait and see whether Bill demoes anything from Windows Live; Soapbox and G2 are the most likely, though ex-Live product Windows Search 4 is no stranger to exec demos.

You can watch the keynote through the Microsoft CES site.

Soapbox and Messenger Integration

Darren Straight — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 22:22:00 GMT

Today the MSN Soapbox Team have launched a new activity feature that will alow you to watch Soapbox videos on Windows Live Messenger in real-time with your friends. Which is much nicer than just sending them a link!

This is how it works:

If at any time you would like to watch a video with one of your Messenger contacts, just click on the "share" tab under a Soapbox Video and select "IM this video."
Which then if you are already signed into Messenger, will prompt you to choose which contact you would like to watch the video with. If you are not signed in, you will be prompted to do so.
Then after you have choosen the contact, and once the person has accepted your invitation - boom the Messenger Activity Window will launch, with the player in full view. You can now watch the video with your friends and chat about it, all at the same time.

Happy video sharing! :)

MSN Soapbox gadget for Live.com and Windows Live Spaces

Chris — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 21:51:00 GMT

The Windows Live Gallery got a minor update yesterday, and at the same time a new MSN Soapbox gadget was uploaded.

Make your statement on Soapbox on MSN Video – whether it’s silly, crazy or serious, it’s yours. Upload your creation to Soapbox and share it with your family and friends on Spaces. This gadge is accessible world wide excepting China due to legal reasons. The gaget allows the following:

Publish video from any major digital video format (AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV, MPEG 1/2/4, 3GPP, DV, H.263, H.264) to Soapbox
Watch entertaining and original videos uploaded by others
Rate, tag and share videos in the gadget

Update: Gadget is now loading correctly

The rumoured Messenger and Mobile integration with MSN Soapbox is still to appear.

MSN Soapbox: Messenger and Mobile integration coming soon

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:45:00 GMT

NewTeeVee, a new site for GigaOM run by Om Malik, posts a review of MSN Soapbox that offers some insights into where the beta service is heading.

First, according to the piece, Soapbox is slated to come out of beta in March. NewTeeVee talked to Rob Bennett, general manager of entertainment and video services for MSN, who said that Soapbox currently has several hundred thousand beta testers.

"The most interesting integrations are with instant messaging and Windows Mobile, and both should be released within the next month, says Bennett. Users will be able to watch videos from within Microsoft’s IM clients for a social viewing experience. (The Soapbox player will fly out to the right of an existing conversation window.)

On the mobile, Soapbox is about to release an application for browsing videos on Windows Mobile phones, and a mobile uploader should follow. This will allow for full access to the Soapbox site, unlike comparable recent Verizon deals. Bennett said carrier relationships will also eventually be part of the plan, but the first priority is getting something working on phones."

Integration with Windows Live Messenger and the new Windows Live mobile offerings will make Soapbox a more interesting alternative to YouTube (and make the non Windows Live branding even more confusing). Bennett went on to hint some more at incentives for posting, and using, Soapbox:

"Bennett didn’t rule out offering incentives for video creators, but he said nothing had been determined yet. His suggestion would be to reward users with Microsoft Points (the ones used for Xbox and Zune). That could possibly extend to users who tag and watch videos as well as create them."

Integration across Windows Live, incentives, MSN content, coupled with abilities to limit video distribution to say Messenger contacts only, and Soapbox begins to look a little different than just another YouTube wannabe.

Soapbox going mobile

Chris — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:32:00 GMT

Over at the Soapbox blog they've posted a few photos of the new mobile Soapbox. With YouTube already having a mobile feature, this is yet more catchup from the Microsoft guys. Do many people actually upload videos from their mobile phones that aren't of people happy slapping? Let us know in the comments whether you would use regularly use this feature.