I’m more than a casual music fan, I’m a completist. If I’ve decided to fork over dough for so-and-so’s latest — especially when going out of my way on its release date in these music-store-as-mirage times — then I want the whole thing.

But already insane music companies have instead conspired against the very folks who still purchase music. In July 2007, when the reformed Smashing Pumpkins released Zeitgeist, exclusive editions were offered at Target, Best Buy, and iTunes, each with a different bonus track. For the full Pumpkins picture, fans would have to spend around 30 bucks (assuming a first week price of $9.99), or a little over $20 for two more tracks not on the CD purchased at one of the three retailers.

I can only imagine that rabid Pumpkinheads scoured file-sharing sites to get what they’d been willing to reasonably pay for in the first place. In my case, irritation became further frustration. After purchasing the Target version, I realized I’d picked up the standard version of Zeitgeist, which is sans bonus track. D’oh!

While the Zeitgeist release may have been the most conspicuous expand-the-coffers tactic, it’s not the most common one. In recent years, labels have been re-releasing current titles with new content, goosing sales and chart action. Island Def Jam did it back in 2005 with an expanded “Ultra Platinum Edition” of Mariah Carey‘s The Emancipation of Mimi, featuring the #1 single, “Don’t Forget About Us.” Sales must have been good, as the same geniuses issued Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded in June, boasting three brand-new tracks (“Take A Bow,” “Disturbia,” and the Maroon 5 duet, “If I Never See Your Face Again”). To those who’d purchased the original release in 2007, her label was effectively saying, “Shut up and pay!”

But a hopeful sign emerged a month later. Country act Sugarland first released a “Deluxe Fan Edition” of its new album Love On The Inside, with a pared-down set offered in stores a week later. Interviewed by Billboard, Universal Music Group Nashville head Ben Kline was surprisingly forthright about the plan: “We’ve gotten comfortable doing deluxe editions and fan editions after the fact. That really punishes the über fan that comes out week one to buy the album because they ultimately have to go back and buy it again.”

In the madness, a moment of clarity (and sanity). Can I get a hallelujah?

For the love of country, I hope every label’s pop/rock division is paying attention, because I’m tired of paying (and paying again) to get the whole thing.