Save Money in iTunes With the 'Complete My Album' Option

Get discounted music when you buy the rest of an album

By
Mark Harris
Mark Harris
Writer
  • University of Wolverhampton
Mark Harris is a former writer for Lifewire who wrote about the digital music scene and streaming music services in an easy to understand, no-nonsense manner.
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Updated on February 4, 2020
Complete my album feature in iTunes

Apple

Buying an album can sometimes be an afterthought when you've already purchased a few songs by the same artist. If you already have songs in your iTunes library that partially make up an artists' music album, you don't have to buy the whole thing on the iTunes Store to complete the collection.

There's an option in iTunes called "Complete My Album" that could potentially save you lots of money. This very handy, yet often overlooked, feature can be used to purchase the remaining tracks in an album rather than having to buy the complete collection again at a higher overall cost.

As well as saving time on manually cherry-picking tracks in order to complete your chosen album, the price is reduced to reflect how many songs are remaining. Compared to purchasing the whole album at normal retail price, this option usually works out to be much cheaper.

Keep in mind, however, that not all albums are offered in this way. You may also find that this method is not always as cost-effective as purchasing individual songs to complete an album. So, it's still best to compare both methods to get the best deal.

Directions

"Complete My Album" is available in the Store section of iTunes on your PC or Mac.

  1. Sign in to your Apple account through the Account > Sign In... option in iTunes.

  2. Access the Store tab at the top of iTunes.

  3. Select Music from the drop-down menu at the upper-left corner of the program.

  4. Locate the MUSIC QUICK LINKS section on the right-hand side of iTunes and choose the Complete My Album link.

  5. Pick an album from the list on the next page. You'll only see something here if you have albums that can be completed with this method.

  6. Use the <price> Buy button under the album image to complete the album. You can see what you're saving by comparing that price with the one next to Regular Price.

You can also complete an album from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch through the iTunes Store app.

  1. Search for the album in the iTunes Store app that you want to buy at a discount.

  2. Tap the button that represents the reduced price. You'll know it's reduced if you also see a higher price under the Complete My Album text.

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