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Like YouTube, the Web's most popular video site, Soapbox on MSN Video lets users upload personal videos where others can view, rate and comment on them.

Users can upload all major digital video formats, including QuickTime, in a single step, with all the subsequent processing performed by the Soapbox servers. Site visitors can search and browse through 15 categories, find related videos and subscribe to RSS feeds. While the site is designed to make it easy to link to videos and email them to others, there is also an embeddable Soapbox player so that videos can be posted on a website or blog.

Soapbox

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will also be integrated throughout Microsoft online services, including Windows Live Spaces and Windows Live Messenger.

'Soapbox delivers on a critical component of the MSN growth strategy of deepening audience engagement by enabling people to participate in the content experience,' said Rob Bennett, general manager of Entertainment and Video Services for MSN. 'By adding a user-uploaded video service, we are rounding out our existing investments in commercially produced and original content on MSN Video.

Bennett acknowledged that Microsoft is playing catch-up with the likes of YouTube and Google Video, but he believes that there is plenty of scope for innovation. He noted that Soapbox has already differentiated itself by displaying videos in slightly larger windows than competing services and by letting users expand videos to full screen while they are playing.

For now, a beta version of Soapbox on MSN Video is available on an invitation-only basis in the US. Access to the beta will be expanded over time by enabling existing beta testers to invite a limited number of friends.