Other clever people (e.g., Dr. Ebbetts) have created improved stereo
versions of the early Beatle albums in an attempt to improve the crappy fake
stereo versions that have been officially released.  Hearing the vocals come
from the center with the instruments panned slightly so they're not
completely exclusive to one channel is what the listening public wanted from
day one.

Hopefully, the talented folks at Apple/Capital can match the results already
achieved by amateurs.  Putting the stereo and mono versions on the same CD
is a no-brainer.  Anyone own the 24k gold Cream - Disraeli Gears CD on the
DCC label?  Perfect example.  If you prefer mono, listen to mono.  If you
prefer stereo, listen to stereo.  There have been numerous opportunities to
issue the Beatles catalog properly over the years.  How many more inferior
versions is the buying/listening public going to get before it's done right?

The quality of the unofficial, amateur 5.1 releases available varies
somewhat (NO, I don't have copies to trade - search the interweb).  Again,
if the amateurs can produce acceptable results, what reason is there (aside
from lack of foresight) that a major label can't?  I think the Anthology
releases were finally released after the flood of bootleg releases
embarrassed some label executive(s) adequately to take appropriate action.

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And on a related note...several of the Beatles have been remixed in 5.1,
albeit in bootleg versions. If you want to hear more about the project,
check out this site: http://www.toupltd.com/

You won't be able to download any of the music from this site though.
But for those Bit Torrent minded, they're out there and fairly readily
available. These versions are pretty amazing. Great separation and are
far better sonically than the current CD versions. To get REAL 5.1 mixes
would be killer.

Perry