When Essential Billy Joel was released in 2001, normal Joel's fans could instantly point out the flaws in the album. Because it is already impossible to put all of Joel's hits into mere 2 CDs. And for that reason, that several of Joel's best works were unavoidably left out - such as "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", "Big Shot", and his concert favourite "Prelude/Angry Young Man".

Sony tried to fixed this problem, along with several other Essential albums, by released an 'upgrade' version of the series - with 'eco-friendly package'. (does it necessary to use it?) They claimed that this '3.0' version would include an extra disc contained the album cuts and fan favourites.

If that is true, then this will be the most concise collection of his works available in the market. With roughy 54 tracks in total (if we assume that the third disc also contain 18 tracks like the first two), this would contain as many tracks as 1997's Complete Hits Collection 1973-1997 - with 1 disc less.

But when Sony released it by the end of Auguest 2008, the promised 3rd disc turned out to have only 7 songs on it! Although it DID contained the missing fan favourites, but Sony could have done a much better job instead of wasting the CD's space. While it still have plenty of space for the late hits such as "Night is Still Young", "You're Only Human (Second Wind), and "Modern Woman". They really (intentionally?) missed their chance to create a 'nearest' perfect compilation.