Tachibana actually says that the i-Mode site ‘The END’ is kind of his new album. Some of the ringing melodies have two minute long loops. When it’s regarded as a musical piece, the mobile phone can be the same as portable a CD player. Ringing melodies can be both ‘environmental sound’ and ‘music’.

Hajime Tachibana

Another special feature of this site is the guests’ section and contributors’ section. These are in addition to the regular artists’ section. It attempts to prevent limiting the contents to particular artists and show the advantage as an official site. By having the site accept contributions from the public all contributors have something in common.

Presently, there are more than 20,000 independent, ‘selfish’ sites. The biggest difference between them and the official site is the guarantee in downloading. Everyone can easily create what they want and upload them on i-Mode, but there should be quality and interactivity with both social and economic benefits.

We tend to be prejudiced when we hear the word ‘official’, but it’s important to draw a clear line between the amateurism of those ‘selfish’ sites. ‘The END’ is an interesting attempt to think squarely of i-Mode as a local network medium, while we still need to keep our eyes on chaos and the possibility of the web site as a global network medium.