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Microsoft to close Soapbox August 31

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On July 22, 2009, 11:04 AM

Only a month off from their decision to scale back Soapbox, Microsoft has decided to close the service altogether. Soapbox launched as a YouTube competitor in 2006, but failed to gain foothold on the market. Redmond’s announcement last month stated that they intended on transforming Soapbox into a forum where bloggers and citizen journalists could post videos relevant to MSN’s focal points (entertainment, lifestyle, finance etc).

Neowin caught wind from a Microsoft spokesperson that MSN would stop offering Soapbox on August 31. From July 29 onward, users will not be able to submit new videos. To safeguard any desired content, you’ll have to download it prior to the end of next month. Microsoft plans to help with the preservation of your media by offering instructions on backing it up.

The company claims to have 88 million unique users of MSN video, who watch 480 million videos each month. Soapbox will join Popfly and Microsoft Money in the loser’s lounge as Redmond clears a path for upcoming services like their Spotify competitor.

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5 comments

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  1. July 22, 2009 11:20 AM
    raybay said:

    Is this a bad thing?

    Reply
  2. July 22, 2009 1:51 PM
    Staff
    Rick
    Rick, TechSpot Staff, said:

    I've never heard even heard of it...

    Reply
  3. July 22, 2009 2:03 PM
    SNGX1275
    SNGX1275, TS Special Forces, said:

    Me neither Rick, saw the headline and had to click to see what it was all about.

    Reply
  4. July 22, 2009 2:37 PM
    Staff
    Rick
    Rick, TechSpot Staff, said:

    If reasonably tech savvy digirati like ourselves did't know what SoapBox was, maybe that was part of it is failure.

    I'm sure MSN pushed it as part of their services, but relatively speaking, not many people use MSN.

    And concerning Microsoft, it's probably for the best anyway, since YouTube loses about $1,500,000 every day it operates. If YT can't generate money, I doubt Soapbox could even be in the positives, let alone lucrative.

    Reply
  5. July 24, 2009 7:22 AM
    JudaZ said:

    whats soapbox, agree with Rick, I've never heard of it....maybe thats the problem.

    Reply

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