Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon - 50th Anniversary Atmos mix in 2023! (Standalone BD coming in October!)

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It’s £215 from the PF website, surprised there’s a big difference in price
215 pound = $266 dollars = Price Gouging at its best for a fancy box + and who know what quality Atmos mix. 99% of anyone on this forum already have quality Vinyl/ Quad / 5.1 / Stereo mixes of DSOM. I even have marbles and a cheap scarf from the Immersion set. Let me know when PF release the single blu ray of DSOM Atmos mix.
 
The price for this set is laughably, insultingly ridiculous, especially considering that it isn't even complete or definitive. I long ago decided to never support box sets with unwanted vinyl just to get a single surround mix I wanted. I guess the band and bean counters are getting even for the very reasonable release of Animals which now looks like an anomaly. Hard pass for me. I dread what may be coming for The Wall.
 
It's one of the most important and best selling albums of all time. Does it therefore deserve a 50th anniversary edition? Of course it does. But trying to just look at what is being offered here objectively, the logic does seem pretty flawed, at least if we're taking the marketing messaging at face value. Put simply, who is this for? What's the cold, hard bottom line here (there always is one)?

Anyone from the "old guard" that knew and loved this album growing up, and would be a potential consumer of a SDE of it, would surely have jumped at the Immersion box in 2011—despite the silly doodads (which are fine by me, whatever), there's a lot of great content in there: multiple surround mixes, unreleased early stereo mix, live stuff, studio outtakes, plus the video content. I mean, that was a pretty fantastic offering when it came out (and remains so, in my opinion).

So what has changed in the 12 years since? Have that many more people in the target audience come of age, discovered the band, or moved into a position of having some disposable income in that time? If they did, they probably scooped up Immersion in the interim since we didn't even learn about this 50th anniversary edition until recently. Unless they're all about vinyl, in which case they would have just bought any number of pressings available, and so only half (at best) of what's available in the 50th set would matter to them, if they cared about Wembley (nope, it's not that—that's available separately too) or another new stereo remix. Tall order.

The logic behind investing the money to produce a set like this could not have been expecting the return to come from a new audience that wasn't there in 2011. This bulk of it would therefore be expected from those of us that already have Immersion. Not rocket science, I know. I don't love the double/triple/etc. dipping every few years on these legacy titles, and all that it signifies, but I suppose at least if the content continues to evolve I'm not (fully) complaining.

But all of that being said, and I think pretty hard to argue with, then what this release tells us is:

1. There's nothing else left in the vault worth dragging out into the sunlight (from this era at minimum but maybe that's true overall for Floyd). No real surprise there, at some point all wells run dry, and there's been a TON of non-album stuff released over the last few years so I consider us all very lucky in general, especially compared to what I had access to as a kid when they were up at the very, very top for me. But still, worth noting. They can't possibly be hanging onto anything else at this point hoping for some other kind of release down the road—if there was a whopper to unleash on us, I have to assume it'd be here to grease the wheels.

2. They're confident we're gonna buy it.

The decision to not make this fully definitive with every scrap available on prior releases is a serious head-scratcher. But... wait, no it's not, because they know the vast majority of those interested in this already have that content in Immersion so it's not a new draw—and it's in the corporation's best interest for Immersion to have exclusive content so that the secondary market doesn't get flooded and eat away new sales. So once again, who is this for?

As others have said, this is an attempt to once more get the same people who have purchased this album, many times over in various formats, to buck up for it again, in a spectacular "eff it, I'm in one more time!" manner. The knockout punch while the old timers are still above ground. For collectors who simply have to own it all.

For people who can't wait to hear what the 2023 stereo remix is going to sound like? Or are dying to have it on vinyl, CD, blu-ray and DVD? The marketing says so but I bet in reality those numbers are slim.

That leaves those who are collecting physical Atmos mixes, like me, and can't get this one anyplace else. You can get the book separately too, so the only exclusives in the big box are the printed music (sure), the posters (uh-huh), the 7" re-pressed singles (oh please), the 2023 stereo mix on physical media (will this really be revelatory at this point?) and the physical (and as we're currently being told, only, instance of the) Atmos mix.

It's very, very clear and I think any attempt to explain it otherwise is just retconning or playing pretend. I'm not even saying I blame them. Hate the game, not the players, eh? But it sure doesn't feel great. Just charge $300 for the Atmos mix and skip all of the other material waste, no? OK, that's maybe one step too snarky. But only just.

I had it preordered on Amazon and then said to myself "No, I won't. Talk about a sheep." Will I abstain forever? Well, I caved on Moving Pictures and still don't feel great about it although I love the Atmos mix. But regardless of price drop, I believe I'll have to first read a review of this Atmos mix and see people I trust designating it positively orgasmic.
 
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I'm hearing standalone later in the year
SDE says no and they are pretty reliable folks.

There does not appear to be any standalone reissues of the 2023 remaster of The Dark Side of the Moon, so the three physical formats for this 50th anniversary campaign are: deluxe box set, vinyl LP of Live at Wembley 1974 and CD of Live at Wembley 1974. Unlike with Animals, they are not making the spatial audio available separately, so buying the box set is the only way to get the Atmos mix, physically.

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/pink-floyd-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-50th-anniversary-reissue/
 
The two PCM tracks (5.1 and 2.0) take up approx 7.5GB.

Even if you overestimate dts-MA by doubling the PCM, that still leaves over 9GB for the Atmos track. The Atmos track of Moby's Reprise is 4GB and that's 70 mins long.

So there is zero need for two Blu-rays for just audio, they wouldn't even have needed a double layer BD! They're just taking the pish.
 
Yeah, I don't want to stream the Atmos, I want to buy and download it (or buy a standalone BluRay disc and rip it, at a push (which is what I usually do (I have all their other boxsets))). As I already have the Immersion, I'll wait and either miss out, buy an eventual standalone, or "aquire" the Atmos from somewhere as a last resort...
I think there will be a lot of “acquiring”
 
The only item that might be essential to the 50th anniversary box set could possibly be the Atmos blu ray. I say might be essential as since the DSOM Immersion box set has the Quad mix which is one of the best mixes I have ever heard. If you already own the Immersion box set, will the new Atmos mix be better than the Quad mix? Hmmm
 
I know it probably won't happen, but I hope the sales of this cynical cash grab are abysmal. It would be very satisfying if they didn't even make back the production/pressing costs. If sales are bad enough, they just might break out portions of the set as stand alone items, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
Grateful PF offered Animals with stand alones. Baffled they are not with the Atmos mix of DSOTM. Dang! I noticed the Wembley 74 was mixed by Andy Jackson, I am surprised Guthrie and Jackson's mixing can be found together in one box set. Should I have hope that we will see Jackson's 5.1 mix of Obscured by Clouds & Meddle available for purchase on Blu ray in the future? 🤔
 
i really need a mind blowing review to justify buying this again when i got the immersion quad mix blu ray =/. Who is mixing the atmos mix? is it the same guy who did the quad?
 
The only item that might be essential to the 50th anniversary box set could possibly be the Atmos blu ray. I say might be essential as since the DSOM Immersion box set has the Quad mix which is one of the best mixes I have ever heard. If you already own the Immersion box set, will the new Atmos mix be better than the Quad mix? Hmmm
Hmmm, define 'better'

Do we like more ping pong quickly moving sounds around all corners and ceiling of the room? Or smooth moving panning? Or discrete but static sounds?
Or do we like more immersive balanced sound, that despite the fact that it sounds very good it looks boring and like 'expanded stereo'?
Do we want to sound like our preferred mix that we have listen thousand of times? Because if it sounds 'different'... some will say its worse, some will saye it's better.

Have to wait for reviews explaining the Atmos mix to evaluate if it is worth... Even beeing a completist and old time PF fan, there are so many albums there waiting for a listen...
 
I really don't like to bring this into the light of day, as I think the surviving members have done quite well financially, but it seems it all comes down to one thing.
Greed?

I know. Tell me it's all good intentions, tell me hell no Boonie, you're just wrong. I want to be wrong.

I guess Waters and Gilmour could have just turned it over to others and said just run with it, whatever, we trust you. I don't know, maybe good intentions all around.
But if that's the case, the person/persons failed miserably IMHO.

No, I'm not just bitching about no standalone Atmos BD. Like has been said, the box set itself suffers from a stunning lack of...so much.

Hey look. Roger is getting up there, but still seems quite lively, and well, David is only a few years older than I. Who knows what the decisions were based on, I guess it's useless to speculate, but that's what we do.

But bless them, they have turned out some great music.
 
I really don't like to bring this into the light of day, as I think the surviving members have done quite well financially, but it seems it all comes down to one thing.
Greed?

I know. Tell me it's all good intentions, tell me hell no Boonie, you're just wrong. I want to be wrong.

I guess Waters and Gilmour could have just turned it over to others and said just run with it, whatever, we trust you. I don't know, maybe good intentions all around.
But if that's the case, the person/persons failed miserably IMHO.

No, I'm not just bitching about no standalone Atmos BD. Like has been said, the box set itself suffers from a stunning lack of...so much.

Hey look. Roger is getting up there, but still seems quite lively, and well, David is only a few years older than I. Who knows what the decisions were based on, I guess it's useless to speculate, but that's what we do.

But bless them, they have turned out some great music.
I'll be honest, the only thing that got me excited (a little) other than the blu-ray with Atmos, were the reproduced posters from the original album (the pyramids and the concert photos). But for $300 there needs to be a lot more meat than that.
 
I really don't like to bring this into the light of day, as I think the surviving members have done quite well financially, but it seems it all comes down to one thing.
Greed?

I know. Tell me it's all good intentions, tell me hell no Boonie, you're just wrong. I want to be wrong.

I guess Waters and Gilmour could have just turned it over to others and said just run with it, whatever, we trust you. I don't know, maybe good intentions all around.
But if that's the case, the person/persons failed miserably IMHO.

No, I'm not just bitching about no standalone Atmos BD. Like has been said, the box set itself suffers from a stunning lack of...so much.

Hey look. Roger is getting up there, but still seems quite lively, and well, David is only a few years older than I. Who knows what the decisions were based on, I guess it's useless to speculate, but that's what we do.

But bless them, they have turned out some great music.
I'll be honest, the only thing that got me excited (a little) other than the blu-ray with Atmos, were the posters from the original album. But for $300 there needs to be a lot more meat than that.
 
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