A month or so back I bought “Dark Side of The Moon” on Blu-Ray to finally listen to the Atmos remix and – not to mince words her – it was revelatory. Maybe the most transformative listening experience I’ve had in like…well, a good decade or so. Incredible mix, and that was just through my 5.1 system. I’ve half convinced myself I need height channels to make sure I’m getting the full experience.

The other place where the Atmos mix of “Dark Side of the Moon” is available is via Apple Music. If the rumours are to be believed, then Apple is currently pushing hard for labels to remix old and new projects for Atmos as part of a marketing push for their AirPods which support spacial audio. I feel like Apple’s marketing of Atmos for AirPods is a huge undersell here although I appreciate why they’re doing it. I can only imagine the market size of AirPods is of an order magnitude greater than those with >2.1 speaker setups.

So I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of “more please” when it comes to multi-channel mixes, and whilst theres some stuff kicking about on physical media, it’s either extremely rare and/or extortionate. And thats a real shame because it seems theres a huge push from Apple for remix’s to be released. The issue is, those mixes typically only get released on Apple Music (or Tidal, sometimes). Apple Music has so much Atmos stuff of varying genres – theres an Atmos mix for Wu Tang’s debut album which is a real lofi project that I’m kinda stunned got the remix treatment. But then theres even stuff like The Beatles where you kinda expect an official remix every so often. The Atmos mix of “Revolver” is only available in Atmos through Apple Music. The Atmos mix of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is only available through Apple Music. Micheal Jackson’s Thriller is only available through Atmos on Apple Music. The sort of projects that you’d feel have a large enough appeal to audio nerds, than a wider release would be beneficial to everyone.

And then the only really sensible way to play this stuff through a surround sound system is to be using an Apple TV. Atmos isn’t supported through Apple Music clients on other platforms, meaning you have to be plugged into Apple’s software, hardware and service ecosystem to access the catalogue of Atmos music. I actually ended up hooking my iPhone up to my TV via HDMI, but that clearly not the best solution.

I don’t really have a conclusion to this minor rant. I appreciate that the market probably isn’t really there for this music to get a wider release, and it’s probably a net positive we have a push from Apple to get these Atmos mixes released. However, I do wish it was more accessible and not just a part of Apple’s ecosystem, for now and for future preservation.