Time–Life

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Time-Life is a book, music, and video marketer, that since 2003 has been combined with catalog reseller Lillian Vernon as a subsidiary of Direct Holdings Worldwide, and is no longer owned by its former parent Time Warner.

The Time-Life company was founded by Time, Incorporated in 1961 as a book marketing division. It takes its name from Time and Life magazines, two of the most popular weeklies of the era. It was based in the Time-Life building in Rockefeller Center.

It gained fame as a seller of series of books that would be mailed to households on a monthly installment. Several of these book series garnered substantial critical acclaim unusual for a mass-market mail order house. For instance the series Library of Photography of the mid-1970s featured very high-quality silver printing for its black-and-white reproductions, and was of course able to draw on Life Magazine's vast archive of journalistic and art photographs from virtually every major photographer; The Foods Of The World featured contributions by M.F.K. Fisher, James Beard, Julia Child, Craig Claiborne and many others; and The Good Cook series, edited by Richard Olney, featured contributions from Jeremiah Tower, Jane Grigson, Michel Lemonnier and many others. Other series of high regard covered nature and the sciences, as well as the history of world civilizations. The science books are interesting as ephemera of their time. The content of these series was more or less encyclopedic, providing the basics of the subjects covered in a way that did not seem to be aimed a children specifically. There was also a series on comtemporary life in various countries of the world. Some other series are much less highly regarded, especially the later output as the publisher moved away from soberly presented science and history towards sensationalism, pop-history, and DIY-themed books. The books, whatever their quality, are easy to find at low prices on the used-book market, due to their being published in the millions of copies.

Time-Life building in Rockefeller Center in New York City

Time-Life added music in 1966, selling box sets and collections through Time-Life Records, eventually advertising these collections through infomercials (including Superstars of Country and 70's Music Explosion), which often air in the early morning (3 am to 6 am). When Time merged with Warner Communications in 1989, the label became a Time Warner division. Warner Music Group, which grouped all of Time-Warner's music companies, was sold to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. in late 2003.

In recent years, the company has been subject to bad press due to questionable billing practices. Some customers claim that they have been tricked into purchasing multiple CDs from Time-Life Records. Buyers, wishing to purchase single CDs, unknowingly enroll into "Continuity Programs," despite the publications clearly stating "then, preview other volumes" in the commercials. In the small print, however, it mentions that unless the customer cancels the account, Time-Life will send a CD album tri-weekly, automatically billing the credit card. The customer's account can be refunded upon returning the CDs, and can call customer service to cancel. Many customers have complained at the fact that what they originally thought was the purchase of a single CD has resulted in multiple CDs being shipped they did not know about.