Apple's 'Complete My Album' Feature Drops 180-Day Deadline for Upgrading

itunes 10 icon 150Yesterday, we noted that Apple had launched a new "Complete My Season Pass" feature for TV shows purchased through the iTunes Store, offering users who purchased individual episodes of a TV show season the ability to upgrade to a Season Pass at a discounted rate based on the amount of their individual purchases.

Apple today posted a new support document outlining an FAQ for the new service and explaining what content is and isn't eligible for the program. But in addition to the the Complete My Season Pass document, Apple also posted an updated version of its "Complete My Album" support document that offers a beneficial change for consumers.

Until now, users have generally had a window of 180 days from the date of their first individual track purchase from a given album within which they could upgrade at the discounted rate using the Complete My Album program. The current iTunes Store terms and conditions still make reference to that limit:

COMPLETE MY ALBUM ("CMA")

In some circumstances, you will have no more than 180 days from the time you acquire your first CMA-eligible song or video from a particular CMA-eligible album to accept that CMA offer, and upgrading previous purchases to iTunes Plus does not affect any such time limits.

But the updated support document posted by Apple today reveals a different answer, and it now appears that the 180-day deadline has been removed entirely.

How long do I have to take advantage of Complete My Album?

When you buy individual songs from any qualifying album, you can complete the album at any time, as long as the album is available for sale on the iTunes Store.

Many users taking advantage of the Complete My Album program obviously already do so within the previously-imposed 180-day window as they decide that they like certain songs enough to purchase the entire album. The lifting of the restriction will, however, still be of use for those who decide much later that they want to upgrade.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...

Top Rated Comments

Icaras Avatar
171 months ago
I am just curious how this actually works...never used it before.
Just buy a track from an album and the album will appear on your "Complete My Album" page, which can be found on the front page of the iTunes store (on the right side menu).

And basically, the price to purchase the rest of the album is reduced, minus the price of the track(s) you've purchased from that album.

For example, if you buy two $0.99 cent tracks from a $9.99 album, the price to purchase the rest of the album is reduced to $8.01, regardless of how many tracks there are in the album.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Icaras Avatar
171 months ago
Is it retroactive? If so, I'm happy.
It is because I see pretty much all the albums of which I've bought only select songs from years ago on my Complete My Album page.

iTunes keeps on getting better :D

Now all I want are Movies in the cloud, 1080p content with upgrade path, and ALAC music content with upgrade path and all will be perfect.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
morespce54 Avatar
171 months ago
It's a great news...
But AFAIC, the major problem with "Complete My Album" is not so much the 180 days limit as the "as long as the album is available for sale"...
I often got caught trying to complete an album which seems to be no longer available on iTS when in fact, the album has simply been renamed (i.e. "The Gretest Hits of XYZ" instead of "Greatest Hits: XYZ").
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
firestarter Avatar
171 months ago
I'm not sure why Apple (or most probably the record companies) ever restricted this.

One of the big issues record companies have had with the iTunes model is the ability folks now have to buy just a couple of good reacts off the album, rather than the whole lot (including all the filler tracks you'll never end up listening to). Result is a loss of revenue.

Why would the record companies want to continue with a policy that discourages people further from 'upgrading' to that whole album? Makes no sense.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gubbz Avatar
171 months ago
I'd really like to see this as an extension to iTunes Match, there's lots of albums that I bought the CDs to years ago and since then they've been re-released with extras...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Icaras Avatar
171 months ago
I just noticed too that if you buy a track thats featured in both a standard album and a deluxe album, the track shows as "purchased" on both albums and also shows both albums under "Complete My Album". Awesome!

Nice way of Apple to prevent penalizing customers for buying identical music across multiple versions of an album. :)

Edit: This policy doesn't seem to extend to "greatest hits" or "best of..." albums though, which makes sense since these are released by studios to generate more sales for the artist anyway.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)