neocha.com | NEXT 2.0 ::
:: Neocha.com, a social networking site for Chinese creatives, has released a new and improved version of its popular music player, NEXT.
NEXT streams songs from Neocha.com’s library of user-uploaded music, one of the largest online collections of 100% original works from Chinese independent musicians. The player is fully bilingual and simple to use: just press the NEXT button to, uh…hear the next song. That’s it.
What’s new in NEXT 2.0:
- Genres – Only want to listen to Chinese indie folk, or only electronic, or only rock, or only hip-hop today? Take your pick. Now you can choose the genre of music you want to stream from NEXT.
- Random – Can’t decide which genre to listen to? Then don’t – just click on NEXT’s “random” button for a continuous mix of tracks across all genres.
- Ratings – Absolutely love or hate a song? Let us know with one click via NEXT’s 5-star rating system.
- Comments – Want to tell us and the world what you think, enter comments and feedback about any song directly via the NEXT player. Your comments will appear for everyone to see on the track’s Neocha.com page.
- Top Ten – Based on listener feedback via the 5 star rating system, NEXT maintains a continuously updated, dynamic Top Ten list. Just click on the “top ten” button.
- Track Sharing – Want to link someone to the song your listening to? Just click NEXT’s “share” button to copy a direct permalink to your clipboard, then paste it anywhere you want: Facebook, Twitter, IM, email, etc.
- Player Sharing – Want to put the NEXT player somewhere else online? Just click NEXT’s “share” button for HTML code to be copied to your clipboard, then embed it anywhere you want online (blogs, spaces, forums, etc.)
- Adobe Air – Want the NEXT player to live on your computer and not only in your browser? Download NEXT as an Abobe Air program (Mac / PC compatible).
- Donate – Want to support the development of Chinese creative communities and the local independent music scene in China? Click on NEXT’s “donate” button to “chip in” to improving NEXT and the concert / recording / equipment / merchandising, etc. fund for bands on Neocha.com.
NEXT 2.0 is available as:
- an Adobe Air application. Link here to download.
- a Web pop out. Link here to start the Web pop version of NEXT.
- a widget embeddable anywhere online via copy-and-paste HTML code (i.e. the version embedded in this post). Link here for the HTML code.
What’s in the works for NEXT 3.0:
- Personalized playlists
- More ways to share (directly via Twitter, Fanfou, Facebook, Kaixin, etc.)
- Paid downloads / ringtones
- Mobile phones application versions (Apple iPhone / Google Android, etc.)
- Got ideas for the next release, let us know at:
For any questions, suggestions, feedback, etc. related to Neocha.com or NEXT, please leave a comment here and Sean Leow or I will reply promptly. Or, send us an email at: .
// AjS
[full disclosure: 56minus1 is a partner at Neocha.com]
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April 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
[...] 56minus1: What’s new in NEXT [...]
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Looks (and sounds) great! Great that’s bilingual for the ones not fluent in Chinese, like me… ;-) Although from time to time the Air app starts flickering with “your connection to the Neocha server may have been interrupted”, it does so very quickly that it makes you think ‘wtf is happening’, known bug?
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Hi Rogier, thanks for the feedback. The flickering is occurring because we’re currently experiencing much higher than expected traffic to Neocha.com. We are working on the problem as we speak (literally). Appreciate your patience! We’ll have a solution asap.
// Sean ()
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:01 am
Neocha seems mostly music-focused. Is there a similar site for Chinese film-makers?
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:37 am
@ Roger, we have upped our bandwidth, so the streaming / loading speed should be much better for China-based users. However, we are unsure how the GFW affects things for users abroad. Everything seems to be ok though. Thanks for listening. Enjoy.
// AjS ()
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:02 am
@ Thomas, thanks for your response. While musicians make up Neocha.com’s largest creative / user group. Visual arts, including film-making, is a close second. Check out Neocha.com’s visual arts section here and all our videos here.
Also, in terms of local Chinese independent film-making and videos, etc. elsewhere on the Web, there is a lot of stuff on the general video sharing sites like Tudou.com, Youku.com, 56.com, 6.cn, etc., but you’ll have to search around for it. There is no VIMEO.com for China yet. However, VIMEO itself seems to have quite a few original Chinese works.
There are several niche video sharing sites and communities on the Chinese Internet, check out this previous 56minus1 post where I’ve summarized most of them.
// AjS
April 24th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
you guys are denting the world, keep it up the great work, enthralled ..
May 16th, 2009 at 10:35 am
[...] and folk tend to stay on top. Online creative community Neocha.com has launched its music player NEXT for independent music. Sean Leow, the CEO of Neocha.com has written about the local jazz, [...]