diff --git a/Classes/Misc/Buffer.php b/Classes/Misc/Buffer.php
index e101d12..362fc05 100644
--- a/Classes/Misc/Buffer.php
+++ b/Classes/Misc/Buffer.php
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
  * Buffer class for a string.
  * Will fix issues with sockets that don't care about linebreaks.
  * Can also be used for all kinds of purpose.
- * TODO: implement a method to return the next X bytes (return false if not enough bytes there,yet)
  * @author jpt
  * @package Misc
  */
@@ -76,12 +75,23 @@ class Misc_Buffer {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Returns the next $length chars from the buffer.
-	 * @return string Returns "" if no
+	 * Returns the length of the buffer.
+	 * @return int
+	 */
+	public function getBufferLength() {
+		return strlen($this->buffer);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the next $length chars from the buffer or throws an exception if this cannot be done.
+	 * @throws Exception_GeneralException
+	 * @return string
 	 */
 	public function getNextChars($length) {
-		//TODO: substr und so
-		throw new Exception_GeneralException("This feature is not implemented yet!", 1291824224);
+		if(strlen($this->buffer) < $length) throw new Exception_GeneralException("Cannot return ".$length." chars, there are only ".strlen($this->buffer)." chars left!", 1292780386);
+		$data = substr($this->buffer, 0, $length);
+		$this->buffer = substr($this->buffer, $length);
+		return $data;
 	}
 
 	/**