Apple have today announced a new feature for their iTunes Store called Complete My Album.

Now customers who have already purchased individual singles from a particular album can now purchase the entire album minus the cost of the songs they've already purchased. Whenever a customer buys a song, a personalised "Complete My Album" page will appear in the side panel of iTunes showing the reduced cost of buying the rest of the album.

We think it's a great idea and one that's sure to encourage more people to purchase complete albums (if indeed said album is any good) as opposed to just one or two songs.

Even though Apple isn't as such part of the music industry, it's nevertheless a refreshing display of lateral thinking from an industry that is so resistant to change they're willing to let their cash cows take a day job to pay the bills while they spend their time jumping up and down making sensationalist claims in the mainstream media.