AOL plans to announce on Monday it will test launch a new Internet video service in an attempt to demonstrate how much it has learned from mistakes that cost the once reigning king of the online world its leading position.

The new service, AOL Video, aims to be the one-stop shop for online videos and will let users search for videos across the Web, upload their own, or buy or watch for free thousands of TV shows from any one of 45 video-on-demand channels on nearly any device.

Users will also be able to subscribe and rent videos later this year, executives said

These channels will include shows licensed from Viacom Inc.’s MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central networks, A&E Television Networks, and corporate sibling Warner Bros.

The launch comes at a critical moment at the online division of Time Warner Inc. and precedes a presentation by AOL on Wednesday, when it will lay out a new strategic plan widely believed to involve giving away its e-mail and Web services away for free to boost online advertising sales.

Growing numbers of fans are protesting online when labels delay the digital release of hit radio singles. But these consumer complaints are doing little to stop record companies from deferring the availability of downloads.

Just ask fans of “Hustlin’,” the chart-climbing track from rapper Rick Ross.

User forums inside the iTunes Music Store are burning up with posts clamoring for the song, which has been at radio for more than 22 weeks. Ross’ label, Island Def Jam, is yet to offer it for sale as a digital download.

Specifically, iTunes shoppers are using the iMix a community playlist feature intended for music discovery, as a tool to lobby for the track’s release.

In recent weeks, iTunes users have created more than 100 iMix playlists that feature titles demanding availability of the single. For example, “!!!!!!!!$$$$$$$$We Want Rick Ross$$$$$$!!!!!” is a typical playlist name.

Microsoft Corp on Thursday failed to quash fears that a new version of its Windows software system would be further delayed, stirring concerns that a new technology cycle tied to the upgrade could be put on hold.

This uncertainty over when Microsoft and the rest of hi-tech would benefit from the surge in revenue growth that typically accompanies a major Windows upgrade led Microsoft’s shares to close down 2 percent at $23.87 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

We will ship Windows Vista when it is available Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft’s platforms and services unit, said at the company’s annual financial analysts’ meeting, adding that Microsoft would take the project “milestone by milestone”.

Windows sits on more than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers.

Windows Vista, already five years in the making, has been postponed by Microsoft several times. Quality assurance delays have put off the consumer version of Windows until early 2007 — after the crucial holiday shopping season.

The operators of an X-rated online video game on Wednesday debuted Utherverse.com, an adults-only site that aims to duplicate the success of wildly popular teen hangout MySpace.com.

Owners of the new site, who recently launched RedLightCenter.com, expect to have more than 1 million registered users by the end of 2006 and encourage members to upload erotic photos and to complete fantasy profiles.

Brian Shuster, chief executive of Utherverse.com Inc said people under the age of 18 are banned from using the new social networking site — a move that should help the upstart online community avoid MySpace.com’s No. 1 pitfall: pedophiles.

Teenagers, young adults and some full-fledged adults have flocked to News Corp.’s MySpace property to socialize, share interests and find dates.

But the site has also been fertile ground for some sexual predators, who have attracted the attention of parents and U.S. law enforcement following multiple reports of sexual assaults to minors.

Investors in Time Warner Inc., whose shares touched a two-year low in mid-July, are seeking signs of a turnaround on August 2, when the world’s largest media company is set to introduce its fourth plan in five years to save its online unit AOL.

AOL is widely expected to announce that it will give its e-mail and Web services away for free, hoping to win back customers who had switched to other free services from rivals like Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news).

The new strategy, which will be discussed at a Time Warner board meeting in New York on Thursday aims to boost online advertising sales, but analysts say it is a risky move as its subscription business currently accounts for 80 percent of AOL’s revenue.

AOL is still expected to continue to charge for dial-up Internet access, but it will no longer advertise the service.