Time-Life

Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and direct marketeer seller of books, music, video/DVD, and other multimedia products. After all home market book publication activities had been shuttered in 2003, the focus of the group shifted towards music, video, and entertainment experiences – such as the StarVista cruises – exclusively. Its products have once been sold worldwide throughout the Americas, Europe, Australasia, and Asia via television, print, retail, the Internet, telemarketing, and direct sales. Activities were largely restricted to the North American home market afterwards, and operations were until recently focused on the US and Canada alone with very limited retail distribution overseas, ceasing altogether in 2023.

Overview

Time-Life, Inc. was founded in 1961 as the book marketing subsidiary of the New York City-based Time Inc., the later, around 1966, coined Time & Life, Inc. (note use of different connecting characters between "Time" and "Life") and took its name from Time Inc.'s two then-flagship magazines, ''Time'' and ''Life''. It remained independent from both however, even though the company could in the beginning draw on the editorial services of both for their early 1960s book series, particularly where pictorial content was concerned. The subsidiary moved out of the New York City premises to its own headquarters in Chicago, USA after that building had finished construction in 1969 (though it had left the book division at New York for the editorial convenience of having the ''Time'' and ''Life'' pictorial archives nearby), before it relocated back east again to 8280 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, Fairfax, VA 22031 in 1986 where it remained until its ultimate demise in 2023.

Starting in 1967, Time-Life combined its book offerings with music collections (two to five records) and packaged them as a sturdy box set. When record labels were no longer producing vinyl albums in 1990, Time-Life transitioned to CD. In the mid-1990s, Time-Life acquired Heartland Music, with the Heartland Music label then appearing as a brand. This company was subsequently sold off and is no longer associated with Time-Life.

In addition to the company's book and music core activities, it was also became the holding company of television and radio combo stations. Six initially individual stations were already acquired in the 1950s by mother company Time, Inc before the establishment of subsidiary Time-Life, Inc. in 1961, after which the into three consolidated combo stations became subordinated under the new subsidiary as Time–Life Broadcasting, Inc. Established in 1962, it was actually the first subsidiary Time-Life, Inc had formally split-off, even before the core book business activities themselves were two years later (see ''below''). Stations Time-Life eventually owned were KLZ-TV- AM- FM in Denver, WFBM-TV- AM- FM in Indianapolis, WOOD-TV- AM in Grand Rapids, Michigan, KERO-TV in Bakersfield, California, and KOGO-TV- AM- FM in San Diego (the latter two acquired in the 1960s by Time-Life on its own), many of which were sold to McGraw-Hill in 1972; however, Time-Life kept WOOD-TV, which became WOTV after the sale of the other stations, and remained owned by the company until 1984.

After Walter Wanger's death in 1968, its Time-Life Films subsidiary (acquired by Time Inc. in 1969 and subordinated under Time-Life, Inc. before it was sold to Columbia Pictures Television in 1981) also bought his production company Walter Wanger Productions and many of its films. As Time-Life Film/Television, the company was right from the start also the U.S. television distributor of BBC programs as produced in the United Kingdom, until Lionheart Television took over that role in 1981.

On December 31, 2003, Time-Life was sold by Time Warner to a group of private investors including Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. and ZelnickMedia for an undisclosed price, who subordinated their acquisition under their jointly-owned, Direct Holdings Global L.L.C. holding company, founded in 1998. With that transaction, Direct Holdings US Corp became the legal name of Time-Life which was kept as a brand name however, though the copyright disclaimer had it emphatically stated that it is "not affiliated with Time Warner Inc. or Time Life Inc.," the former owners of the ''Time'' and ''Life'' magazines, and from which the company name originated from in the first place. At the time of the takeover, it was reported the Time-Life, Inc.'s turnover had contracted to US$350 million, turning a 2001 US$20 million net operating profit into a net operating loss of US$50 million in 2003. Direct Holdings sold music and video products under the Time Life brand, and was also the holding company of the StarVista LIVE L.L.C. experience entertainment property, thereby becoming responsible for Time-Life's entry into that industry in the 2003-13 time period. In March 2007, Ripplewood led a group that acquired and privatized the Reader's Digest Association (RDA) in the process agreeing to make Direct Holdings, and thus Time-Life, a subsidiary of RDA.

After having already filed for bankruptcy in 2009 for the first time, RDA sold Time-Life, Inc. to Mosaic Media Investment Partners in 2013 in order to settle outstanding financial obligations resulting from their subsequent 2012 bankruptcy. In 2023 and without so much as a whisper in contemporary media, Time-Life ended its six decades-long existence eventually, when the company and its only official online retailer were permanently shut down by its last owner, though the one remaining official website only went dark in May 2024.

Time-Life, Inc.'s progenitor company Time & Life, Inc. had remained throughout its entire existence headquartered in New York City. Its 1271 Avenue of the Americas location became Time-Life's nascent headquarters as well in the first years of its existence after Time & Life had shortly before relocated from its previous premises in Rockefeller Center in 1960. In 2014 it relocated again to smaller premises elsewhere in the city. As a brand, Time-Life actually outlived its sire by five years, as the remnants of Time & Life went defunct in early 2018 after a steady three-decades long decline (mirroring in effect the misfortunes of its erstwhile progeny), with its handful of surviving assets being broken up and sold piecemeal to a variety of third-party outsiders.

Time-Life Books

As Time-Life Books, Inc. – which was not formally incorporated as an official subsidiary until 1964 – the company gained fame as a seller of book series that were directly mailed to households in (bi-)monthly installments, operating as book sales clubs, which was known as the direct-to-consumer (DTC) business model. From its very launch in 1961 it was a runaway success with sales already expected to reach US$100 million one year into its existence.

Prior to the division's establishment, Time, Inc. had already dabbled with single-title book publications on an occasional, ad-hoc basis such as the 1957 "Three Hundred Years of American Painting" () or 1961 "Great Battles of the Civil War" () book titles as spin-offs of their two flagship magazines. It was Time, Inc. itself however, that ''did'' initiate the publication of DTC book series in 1960 with their long running 1960-67 ''LIFE World Library'' series, before it was two years later placed into the care of its newly established subsidiary.;

Rise

After having tested the waters with the tentative 1960–61 trade paperback ''Time Capsule'' budget-priced book series publishing trial run (which actually evolved into their 1962-1966 '' Time Reading Program'' series, the only other known paperback book series the publisher released afterwards), the new subsidiary started out for real in 1962 with the 1960-67 ''LIFE World Library'' (the "Time" qualifier was only in 1966 added to the company's name and book logos, coinciding with the renaming of sire company "Time, Inc." to "Time & Life, Inc.") hardback series it had inherited from its mother company, with the hardback slated to become the subsidiary's staple book release format. The by the general populace perceived cachet of the hardback format where quality of both format and contents were concerned, actually lined up fully with the intent of original publisher Jerome Hardy, who had declared early on that his publishing company would succeed through a strategy to "give the customer more than he has any right to expect." Several of these book series garnered substantial critical acclaim unusual for a mass-market mail order book club/retailer of which there were several in the era, most conspicuously that of contemporary competitor Reader's Digest.Over the decades, Reader's Digest often released book titles that covered the same subject matter(s) the Time Life Books series did, but were in the vast majority of cases single non-series title releases and therefore obviously less in-depth than the Time Life iterations were. One rare exception to the rule concerned their 2004–07 ' series which was comparable to Time Life's earlier ''Time Frame'' aka ''History of the World'' series. though, testify to the Time Life series being perceived as the qualitative better one. On the first volume in the 1966–70 ''Library of Art'' series (the eighth one Time-Life took in production at the time) for example, American artist Rockwell Kent commented, "It would be hard for me to overstate my delight in ''The World of Michelangelo'' – not merely for its superb reproductions of the master’s work but for the textual and pictorial presentation." Other examples standing out for their perceived picture/text quality included the 1970-72 ''LIFE Library of Photography'' series which featured for its time very high-quality duotone printing for its black-and-white reproductions in its original edition, having been able to draw on ''Life''s own vast archive of journalistic and art photographs from virtually every major contemporary photographer (hence the series temporary return to the "Life"-only title), remaining in print for over a decade besides spawning two spinoff photography series. In similar vein, the 1968–77 ''Foods Of The World'' series featured contributions by renowned contemporary food writers/critics and chefs such as M. F. K. Fisher, James Beard, Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, among others. The 1978–80 ''The Good Cook'' series, edited by Richard Olney, featured likewise contributions from Jeremiah Tower, fe Grigson, Michel Lemonnier, and many others.

Other well regarded series covered nature, (urban) geography, the sciences, and (world civilization) histories, as well as an early series on contemporary life in various countries of the world. Content of all of these earlier series was somewhat academic in tone and presentation, providing the basics of the subjects in the way it might be done in a lecture aimed at the general public. One of the earliest such series concerned the 1965–68 ''Great Ages of Man'' history series, which was critically acclaimed by the ''Los Angeles Times'' where it was stated in a 1966 editorial that the series "(…)demonstrates the imposing possibilities of pictorial history… This, of course, is to be expected from the TIME-LIFE specialists. What is even more important is the selection of scholars of the reputation of Bowra and Hadas for texts. Research is meticulous and relevant. This is history written with respect for the reader’s intelligence, and, therefore, more worthy of praise". The same held equally true for the slightly earlier 1963–64 ''The LIFE History of the United States'' series where each of the volumes was written by an American historian of contemporary renown. Because of their intrinsic transient nature in regard to validity, most science book series quickly became ephemera of their time only a short while later on, especially those concerning fields in which developments followed each other at breakneck speed, such as the ones covered in the late 1980s ''Understanding Computers'' and ''Voyage Through the Universe'' series which were already outdated before either series had even completed its run. Nor were their history series entirely exempt from this phenomenon either, especially the early 1960s ones, as new insights, archeological findings and new technology have the potential to completely rewrite history as understood in past decades. Mayan history for example, was featured in Time Life's early ''Great Ages of Man'' and ''The Emergence of Man'' series. However, historians were forced to largely rewrite Mayan history after their script had been fully unlocked and modern technology had revolutionized Mayan archeology in the 21st century, making the Time Life book entries on the subject obsolete and outdated. This even held true for their 1993 "The Magnificent Maya" outing () in their more recent ''Lost Civilizations'' series.

Zenith

Some other series were less highly regarded, especially the plethora of later output as the publisher moved away from soberly presented science and history toward sensationalism (that then with new age overtones imbued trend started in the mid-1980s with '' The Enchanted World'' and '' Mysteries of the Unknown'' series, followed in the early 1990s by the ''Library of Curious and Unusual Facts'' and ''True Crime'' series as prime sensationalist examples), less academically but more popularized written history (such as the ''Time Frame'' aka ''History of the World'' and ''Lost Civilizations'' series), the addition of more book series for children, while at the same time substantially stepping up their editorial focus on easier – and thus cheaper – to produce DIY-themed book series, they had already introduced in 1968 with their long-running 1968-77 '' Foods of the World'' cookbook series. The books though, regardless of their perceived quality, are easy to find at low prices on used-book markets, due to their being published in millions of copies. The same incidentally, also applied for the handful of later stand-alone book titles the company had published that were not part of a series, such as the 1995 "Eyewitness: 150 years of photojournalism" () title, but which were nonetheless usually conceived along the same thematic and format execution lines as the main book series had been. The big exception though, constituted the below-referenced (European) non-proprietary releases which are hard to find on used-book markets.

Nonetheless, Time-Life Books was still able to sell 20 million books in 1985, which, at a US$260 million turnover that year (after having suffered a disastrous sales plunge to a mere US$1,6 million two years earlier), made the subsidiary the largest single earning component of Time-Life, Inc. at that particular point in time – though it had to lay off over 200 employees (out of the total 1,243 employee pool of 1983, spread over ten worldwide offices) and shutter the Mexico City (Time-Life International de Mexico S.A. de C.V.) and Tokyo, Japan (Time Life International Publishing) operations to turn around the dramatic net operating losses suffered earlier that decade, but which also heralded the beginning of Time-Life Books' gradual withdrawal from the Far Eastern and Latin-American markets.

Of some series it was known that a particular series title enjoyed a much smaller print run than the other volumes in the series, resulting in the after-market value of that particular volume and/or the set as a whole increasing initially – though the general trend of waning interest in physical books, those of Time-Life included, has caused these prices to decrease again after the turn of the millennium. Examples include the fourteen-volume "40th Anniversary Edition" ''The Civil War: A Narrative'' and the eighteen-volume ''Voices of the Civil War'' series, where the volumes "Petersburg Siege to Bentonville" () and "Shenandoah 1864" () were the rarer ones respectively. The same applied for "The Rise of Cities" volume () from the twenty five-volume ''History of the World'' series, the UK variant of the home market ''Time Frame'' series where it had been a common volume. Nor was this phenomenon restricted to the English-language volume releases alone; of the "Gemstones" volume of the ''Planet Earth'' series, which had been a common one for the source release, is known that its "Edelgesteenten" Dutch-language counterpart () had been the rare one, still commanding premium prices on Dutch/Belgian used-book markets for its extreme scarcity.

Non-USA-specific topic series were habitually translated into other languages (French being the most predominant, due to Time Life's desire to have to bordering French-Canada served as well), and disseminated through local branches of Time-Life Books in the intended target markets. For several, usually smaller language areas, Time-Life regularly resorted to licensing out their publications to local publishers, as was for example the case with ''The Old West'' and ''The Enchanted World'' series. One major such licensee had been Barcelona, Spain-based Ediciones Folio, S.A. who for decades was signed for several Spanish-language series editions in Europe – for Latin America Time-Life Books resorted to (smaller) local publishers on an ad-hoc basis. The British, French, German and Dutch European edition releases though, were handled by Time-Life themselves through their in 1976 established subsidiary branch "Time-Life International (Nederland) B.V." (renamed to "Time-Life Books B.V." in the early-1980s and located at the time at Ottho Heldringstraat 5, 1066 AZ Amsterdam, Netherlands) as headquarters for mainland Europe and the British isles, which maintained administrative satellite offices in Paris (France), London ( UK), and Munich (Germany), not by coincidence all located in the countries where Time-Life Books took on the publisher role itself. However, not rarely were these translated versions truncated for a variety of reasons. The Dutch language versions of ''History of the World'' (as "Time Life Wereld Geschiedenis"), ''The Epic of Flight'' (as "De Geschiedenis van de Luchtvaart"), ''The Enchanted World'' (as "Het Rijk der Fabelen"), and ''Mysteries of the Unknown'' (no Dutch series title) series, for example, were shy of four, seven, eight, and a whopping twenty-five volumes in translation respectively. Likewise, the German-language version of ''The Old West'' (as "Der Wilde Westen," and, even though American specific, translated nonetheless due to the continued and unabated popularity of the Western genre in Germany), disseminated through the Amsterdam branch as Time-Life Bücher, was shy of seven volumes just like the French-language ''Le Far West'' edition was.

Of at least one series is known that it had been initiated by a local branch and not by the American mother company; the 1986–89 book series ''Australians at War'' was initiated by the local Australasian subsidiary, "Time-Life Books (Australia) Pty Ltd." – located at 15 Blue Street, North Sydney, N.S.W. 2060, Australia at the time, according to the volume colophons of the series – and therefore relatively rare on American/European soil.

Prior to Time-Life, Inc.'s decision to relocate its headquarters from Chicago to Fairfax, Virginia in late 1986, it had long before that already decided to split off the book division onto its own entity in 1964, as above stated, in order to better differentiate between their book and the non-print media activities. Time-Life Books, Inc. had in the meantime moved out its New York City premises (where it was left behind by its mother company when they moved to Chicago in 1969) a decade earlier in early 1977 to the nearby 2000 Duke St. Alexandria, VA 22314 premises, to eventually become a nigh next-door neighbor of its mother company after 1986, and where it stayed until it was vacated in 2004. Contemporary reporters though, had a tough time keeping both premises apart, as they kept confusing one for the other.

Time-Life Books' DTC business model started to slump around 1991. Then-Deputy Editor Harris Andrews recalled how distraught he became when his 1991 ''Echoes of Glory'' mini-series project did not do well in DTC sales. However, once the mini-series was selected to become one of the very first for distribution through regular book store retail channels as well, sales picked up dramatically, thereby becoming a sales success after all. As a result, Time-Life Books series, including the older ones that were still in print, were henceforth concurrently marketed through the regular book store channels as well, alongside the hitherto DTC-only channel – which incidentally, also encompassed Andrews' own 1996-98 ''Voices of the Civil War'' followup project. This however, did not apply to latter-day non-proprietary book series Time-Life was licensed to market, such as the 1999-2000 ''The Civil War: A Narrative – 40th Anniversary Edition'' commemorative series edition, or the European series licensed from Andromeda Oxford, Ltd. (see ''below'')

In late-1998/early-1999 Time-Life Books was visited several times by reporters of the public broadcaster C-Span, who were on a mission to record the manner in which Time-Life went about the production of their book series. This in itself was a manifestation of how firmly Time-Life Books had by then become entrenched in the awareness of contemporary generations of Americans, not in the least due to the unrelenting television book series commercials Time-Life Books flooded the airwaves with in the 1980s and 1990s. A series of interviews were conducted by the C-Span reporters with several of the publisher's contemporary editors, besides them recording editing sessions these editors engaged in for some of their book series. The C-Span video registrations are currently safeguarded for posterity in its video archive. As Time-Life Books would cease to exist less than five years later, this turned out to be a timely initiative in hindsight.

Downfall

Time-Life ceased to publish books when it made its Time-Life Books, Inc. division defunct in January 2001, with any remaining vestiges of the book division immediately terminated for good upon the 31 December 2003 acquisition by Ripplewood/Direct Holdings L.L.C. The European "Time Life Books B.V." Amsterdam subsidiary branch and its three satellite offices elsewhere in Europe though, held out for a few years longer before they too were all closed down simultaneously in late August 2009 – which incidentally, coincided with the first filing for bankruptcy of Time-Life Inc.'s then-mother company, Reader's Digest Association – after which all remaining book publishing activities were suspended indefinitely.

Despite Ripplewood's stated intent to return to the book business, it had the already near-empty Alexandria office premises vacated in 2004 after its acquisition of Time Life, laying off what was left of the former Time-Life Books, Inc. staff and outsourcing remaining operations like customer service, order processing and distribution to third-party companies in Iowa, Pennsylvania and Kentucky instead. It did keep the Fairfax premises open however, as the seat of its subsidiary Direct Holdings Global during their 2003–13 ownership of Time Life. In their post-August 2009 haste to quit the book publishing business as quickly as possible, Direct Holdings decided to liquidate their leftover book stock by dumping it wholesale on specialized US and European remainder book stores, which included relatively new, late-1990s, produced series like ''The Civil War: A Narrative – 40th Anniversary Edition'' or ''Myths and Mankind''. Subsequent owner Mosaic Media Investment Partners too, kept the Fairfax premises open as the non-print Time-Life seat until the altogether shuttering of the company in 2023.

The from 2004 onward unrelated Time Life Inc./Time Warner however, continued until the late-2010s to publish similar print material for the home market through New York City-based Time Home Entertainment, Inc. (founded in the early 1990s), but as publisher of retail single-title books only instead of (direct marketed) book series, which they themselves had already scrubbed entirely in the preceding year, deeming them "too unprofitable". In essence, Time, Inc. emulated what former competitor Reader's Digest had been doing before them and what contemporary competitor National Geographic Books was still doing at that point in time, actually coming in more than one way full circle as they had done likewise themselves prior to their 1960 book series introduction. Somewhat confusingly, they even began to re-employ the brand logo of their former book subsidiary on their own single-title book publications again after 2013 (which in contrast to those of its former subsidiary were invariably executed in a budget-priced paperback format only as a cost saving measure), it – the brand name, not the subsidiary – had quietly bought back from Mosaic Media Investment Partners in January 2014. Having been renamed "Time Inc. Books" in 2015, the publisher shared its mother company's fate when it went ultimately defunct in 2018, bringing the era of Time-Life Books to a definitive end.

Proprietary book series publications

Non-proprietary book series publications

While the vast majority of published book series were conceived, initiated and produced by Time Life itself, which included the Australian branch initiated ''Australian at War'' series, the company also (re)issued on occasion series in similar vein they were either especially commissioned for by outside parties, or as licensee of series that were originally conceived, produced and/or released by third-party publishers elsewhere, typically for release on the US home market, usually, but not always, under its own imprint. English-language versions of British Commonwealth-pedigree series were published by a variety of publishers for the various English-speaking territories in the world, with the regional Time-Life Books B.V. Amsterdam subsidiary commonly designated for Europe and the British Isles, as mentioned in the colophons of the individual volumes. The Amsterdam subsidiary also took care of the potential other-language editions in Europe. These European Time Life versions are far less common, if not outright rare, in used-book markets—the North American ones in particular—than Time Life's own proprietary releases are. The non-proprietary US home market releases on the other hand, are rare on European soil. Licensed series published under the Time-Life Books brand had the licensors dutifully mentioned in the book colophons.

Time Life Music

Time Life added music in 1967, selling box sets and collections through Time–Life Records as a division subordinated under Time-Life Books, Inc. The division changed its name to Time Life Music after music cassette tapes were added to its array of releases, with its European iterations, including the German Time Life Musik label, subordinated under the Amsterdam "Time-Life Books BV" subsidiary branch. During the 1960s and 1970s, the collections released by Time–Life Records catered to an adult audience, with genres including classical, jazz, swing and orchestral music; and the music of operas and Broadway theatre. On occasion, Time Life offered popular music (generally pre-1955 music, as opposed to pop and rock music airing on contemporary hit radio stations in the United States at the time) in box-sets. Although there were television advertisements, Time Life advertised most of these sets in magazines, specialty catalogs and direct mail, just like it did with their book series.

In the early 1980s, Time Life began branching out, offering a series of albums focusing on country music. The first series was 1981's "Country Music," with volumes focusing on a particular artist and featuring eight or nine tracks per album. Twenty volumes were issued, with many of country's greatest artists of the time (Charley Pride was the first artist featured) getting their own album. But until the mid-1980s, Time Life did not feature a rock music-intensive series for customers, preferring to cater to older adults with conservative music tastes.

Pop music enters the picture

Time Life's first successful foray into rock music came in 1986, with a series called "The Rock 'n' Roll Era." Each volume in that series—like similar series that followed—focused on a particular year (in this case, 1955 through 1964—the early, pre-Beatles years of rock music), a stylistic trend or particular artist influential in rock music. Each volume had 22 tracks, and was said to contain the original hit recording by the original artist (although this wasn't always true on early pressings of the early albums in the series). The songs themselves represented the most important and popular songs from the period or subject featured. An essay published by ''Both Sides Now Publications'' noted that Time-Life's move into rock music came at a time when much of the adult audience Time-Life catered to grew up during the rock-and-roll era and, as such, the new series was consistent with its goal of catering to an adult audience.

" The Rock 'n' Roll Era" series was a big success, and by the time the final volume was issued in the early 1990s, more than 50 different volumes (including two Christmas albums) had been released. This paved the way for more country and pop music-intensive series, including " Country USA," "Classic Rock," " Sounds of the Seventies," "Sounds of the Eighties," "Your Hit Parade" (a series featuring popular music of the 1940s through early 1960s) and " Super Hits." Like the earlier series, each volume issued had its own paperback booklet containing liner notes and information about the songs, with the addition of placement on various ''Billboard'' magazine charts.

Like the earlier box-sets featuring other musical styles and genres, the country and pop music series were advertised in magazines, catalogs and direct mail. By this time though, and like its Time-Life Books sibling division, most of these collections were advertised on television as well, vigorously so in effect. There was a difference though; did Time Life Books contend itself with the standard one-to-two minute long commercials, Time Life Music also made much more use of half hour commercials, which they poured in the guise of documentaries, the so-called "infomercials", and not rarely presented by artists whose music was presented on the underlying release. The television advertisements used slogans (e.g., "Relive your high school days ..."), clips of songs included in each volume (along with a scrolling list of other titles), a commercial spokesman (usually a performer or legendary disc jockey relevant to a given series, such as Rick Dees for a 1970s-intensive collection and Ralph Emery for a country music series) and testimonials from customers attesting to the quality and value of the albums, to pitch a given series. Key selling points of these collections are that each track was digitally transferred to the desired format using the original master recordings, as opposed to being "re-records"; and that the most popular and requested songs by customers could be found in a single collection (as opposed to a customer having to purchase many albums to obtain just a few desired tracks).

Customers were given a choice of which format they wanted their box set: either vinyl albums (through 1990), 8-track or cassette tape, or compact disc; today's box sets are offered only as compact discs.

While most of Time Life's box-sets and releases were critically hailed, there were also some minor faults pointed out by critics. For instance, several early pressings of the early volumes in "The Rock'n'Roll Era" series contained stereo re-recordings of the original hits (something that would be corrected on later pressings, either with the correct original recording or a replacement track). Sometimes, the most popular songs of a given time period were omitted, frequently due to licensing issues. Examples included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the ''Classic Rock'' and "Super Hits"/"AM Gold" series;, Garth Brooks and Shania Twain on various country music series;, and Prince, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson on the main ''Sounds of the Eighties'' series.

Time Life Music too, was included in the December 31, 2003 sale of Time Life, Inc. to Direct Holdings Global, the former Time Warner owners having cited the "earnings drag of the direct-marketing music division" caused by the "challenging publishing environment where sales have suffered from a lack of hits and the downturn in the music business" as the reason to have the once highly successful division included in the sale as well.

Through 2010, several different series Time Life had offered were available on a subscription basis, either by calling a 1-800 number or sending a completed postcard-sized card and payment to Time Life. Purportedly, the customer would get a specific volume (as advertised on TV or in a magazine) first, before receiving a new volume roughly every other month (on the format of their choice); customers and had the option of keeping just the volumes they wanted. In time, each volume was also offered for individual sale.

Several of the series – especially the pop, rock, country and rhythm and blues series – had retail versions for sale, released after the entire series was issued. Typically, these were sold at discount stores, often grouped in three-CD sets of 12 tracks each and having the most popular of the series' tracks, and cover artwork and naming loosely based on the subscription/catalog-exclusive titles. Additionally, the "Classic Country" series had special 15-track single-CD versions of several of its volumes issued for retail sale (in addition to budget 3-CD sets).

As of March 2023, Time Life began shutting down its DTC CD and DVD music service. Until May 2024, the company's website only listed a toll-free number for assistance and the Time-Life infomercial channel has been pulled from all cable services, before it went permanently dark altogether.

Saguaro Road Records

In 2008, Reader's Digest Association (RDA) launched Saguaro Roads Records, Inc. as an in-house music recording label, and resorted it under Time Life due to ''its'' 2007 subordination under RDA by their then-owner Ripplewood.

Under the combined "Time Life/Saguaro Roads Records" label, albums have been released with Adam Hood, Blind Boys of Alabama, Bo Bice, Brandy and Ray J, Collin Raye, Dion, Edwin McCain, Hank Williams (estate), Jim Brickman, Joan Osborne, Lonestar, Marc Cohn, Mark Chesnutt, Patty Loveless, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Tanya Tucker, The Grascals, Angie Stone, Waylon Jennings and Don McLean.

Since its launch Saguaro Roads Records has had garnered seven Grammy nominations for its releases. These included two 2009 releases from The Blind Boys of Alabama whose '' Down in New Orleans'' album won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album complemented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for their ''Live in New Orleans'' video registration, Patti LuPone's ''Gypsy: The 2008 Broadway Cast Recording'' which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album that year, ''Hank Williams: The Complete Mother's Best Recordings ''which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album in 2011, Patty Loveless's '' Mountain Soul II'' which won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album also in 2011, Joan Osborne's '' Bring it on Home'' which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album in 2013, and '' The Beatles' "First Recordings: 50th Anniversary Edition"'' which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in the same year.

Saguaro Roads Records though, was excluded from the deal when RDA had to sell Time Life to Mosaic Media Investment Partners in 2013, but has remained dormant ever since.

List of series

The following list shows many of the collections the company has released, but is by no means exhaustive.

* '60's, The
* '60's Country
* '60's Music Revolution
* '60's Gold (discontinued)
* '70's Collection, The (discontinued)
* '70's Country
* '70's Music Explosion (discontinued)
* '80's Collection, The (discontinued)
* '80's Music Explosion (discontinued)
* '90's Collection, The (discontinued)
* 100 Christmas Songs for Kids
* 100 Classics for Kids
* 100 Classics for Relaxation
* 100 Kids Songs
* 100 Masterpieces
* 100 Piano Masterpieces
* 101 Sing a Longs for Kids
* American Gold #1 Hits
* AM Gold (2021)
* AM Gold (discontinued; was first issued as "Super Hits")
* Beethoven Collection, The
* Best of Soft Rock
* Big Bands
* Billboard #1 Hits of the '70's
* Blues Legends (discontinued)
* Blues Masters (discontinued)
* Bobby Jones Presents Ultimate Gospel
* Body and Soul
* Body Talk (discontinued)
* British Invasion, The
* Classic Bluegrass (discontinued)
* Classic Country (2022)
* Classic Country
* Classic Drive (discontinued)
* Classic Jazz
* Classic Love Songs of the '60's
* Classic Radio Hits (discontinued)
* Classic Rock (discontinued, was a collection of mid- to late-1960s music)
* Classic Rhythm and Blues
* Classic Soft Rock
* Classic Soul Ballads
* Classic Love Songs of Rock 'n' Roll (2016)
* Classic Love Songs of Rock 'n' Roll (discontinued)
* Classical Power
* Concerts of Great Music, The, AKA Story of Great Music Concerts, The 11 LP (5) volumes, 1966–68, (discontinued)
* Contemporary Country (discontinued)
* Country Jukebox
* Country Music Explosion
* Country Music Hall of Fame Presents Classic Country
* Country Music of Your Life
* Country USA (2011)
* Country USA (discontinued)
* Country's Got Heart
* Def Comedy Jam
* Dick Clark's Jukebox Gems
* Disco Fever (discontinued)
* Disney's Greatest
* Easy '80's
* Easy Listening Classics
* Edge of the '80's (discontinued)
* Emotion Collection, The (discontinued)
* Fabulous Fifties, The (discontinued)
* Faith, Hope & Country
* Feel Good Rock
* Flower Power
* Folk Years, The (discontinued)
* Forever '60's
* Forever '70's
* Forever Soul
* Giants of Jazz (discontinued)
* Girl Groups
* Glory Days of Rock 'n' Roll (discontinued)
* Great American Songbook
* God Bless the USA
* Gold and Platinum: The Ultimate Rock Collection (discontinued)
* Golden Age of Country
* Golden Age of Pop
* Great Composers
* Great Men of Music
* Greatest Love Songs of the '60's
* Greatest Love Songs of the '70's
* Grooves (discontinued)
* Guitar Rock (discontinued)
* Hard & Heavy (discontinued)
* Heart of Rock 'n' Roll, The (discontinued)
* Heart of Classic Rock, The
* History of Rock 'n' Roll, The (discontinued)
* I Can Only Imagine Platinum
* Instrumental Favorites
* It All Started with Doo Wop (discontinued)
* Jukebox Memories
* Kingston Trio
* Lifetime of Country Romance
* Lifetime of Romance
* Legendary Singers
* Legendary Voices
* Legends of Country
* Legends: The Ultimate Rock Collection (discontinued)
* Living the Blues (discontinued)
* Living the Gospel (discontinued)
* Magic of Love (discontinued)
* Malt Shop Memories
* Midnight Soul
* Modern Rock Dance
* Modern Rock (discontinued)
* Motown Collection, The
* Mozart Collection, The
* Music of Your Life
* Mysteries of the Unknown
* Opry Video Classics
* Party Rock
* Pop Goes the '70's
* Pop Memories of the '60's
* Pop Revolution (discontinued)
* Power of Love
* Power of Love, The (1996) (discontinued)
* Prom Night
* Pure Rhythm and Blues
* Quiet Storm
* Raunchy Blues
* Rhythm & Blues
* Rhythm+Grooves (discontinued)
* Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert
* Rock Collection, The (discontinued)
* Rock & Romance
* The Rock 'n' Roll Era (discontinued)
* Rock 'n' Roll Era (2013)
* Rock 'n' Roll: Legendary Years (discontinued)
* Romancing the '60's
* Romancing the '70's
* Romantically Yours
* Secret Love
* Singers & Songwriters US Version
* Singers & Songwriters Europe Version
* Smooth Soul
* Sock Hop Collection, The
* Solid Gold Soul US Version (discontinued)
* Solid Gold Soul Europe Version (discontinued)
* Songs 4 Ever (discontinued)
* Songs 4 Life (discontinued)
* Songs 4 Worship Country
* Songs 4 Worship
* Songs For Lovers (discontinued)
* Soul of The '60's
* Soul of The '70's
* Soul Story (discontinued)
* Soul Superstars of the '70's
* Soulful Christmas
* Sounds of The '70's (discontinued)
* Sounds of the '80's
* Sounds of the Seventies
* Sounds of The Sixties (discontinued)
* Sounds of the Seventies (discontinued)
* Sounds of the Eighties (discontinued)
* Sounds of the Nineties (discontinued)
* Spirit of the '60's (discontinued)
* Story of Great Music, The, 11 LP (4) volumes, 1966–68, (discontinued)
* Story of Great Music Concerts, The, AKA Concerts of Great Music, The 11 LP (5) volumes, 1966–68, (discontinued)
* Summer Breeze Collection, The
* Superhits
* Superstars of Country (discontinued)
* Superstars of the '80's
* Sweet Soul of the '70's (discontinued)
* Teen Years, The
* Timeless Music Collection, The (discontinued)
* Time Life Loves the '80's
* ''To the Moon'', a 6-record set: a documentary with accompanying book about the early space program, the space race, the missions to the Moon and the first Moon landing, published soon after Apollo 11 completed its mission to the Moon. (discontinued)
* Treasury of Christmas
* Ultimate Love Songs
* Ultimate Oldies but Goodies Collection, The (discontinued)
* Ultimate Rock Ballads
* Ultimate Seventies (discontinued)
* Uptown Saturday Night (discontinued)
* We Love the Nightlife
* What Life was Like
* World of the Supernatural
* Woodstock Collection, The
* Worship Together
* Your Hit Parade (discontinued)
* You So Crazy

Time Life Video

Time Life's video business has been growing quickly since 2000. Starting out at the dawn of the videotape era in 1978, the division began with (re-)issuing such documentary series as ''The World at War'' (1973–74), '' The Trials of Life'' (1990),'' The Civil War'' (1990), ''The Wild West'' (1993), '' The Nazis: A Warning from History'' (1997), and '' Growing Up Wild'' (1992–93). As evidenced by the first, second and penultimate titles, Time Life Video had over its lifespan been the distributor of choice of British broadcasters, the BBC in particular, for the dissemination of their documentaries on home video formats in the US market. Time Life subsequently branched out into nostalgic television shows as well at more recent times, having been able to leverage their already music industry knowledge and contacts to release television shows previously held back because of expensive music rights clearances. Their collections were known for having extensive bonus features, liner notes and packaging. Television show releases from Time Life include:Classic TV Shows on DVD
from TimeLife.com, retrieved February 14, 2020

* ''America A Look Back''
* ''Animal Alphabet & Numbers''
* '' Apocalypse: The Second World War''
* ''Baby’s First Impressions''
* ''Barney & Friends'' (season 1)
* ''The Beginner's Bible''
* ''The Benny Hill Show''
* ''The Jack Benny Program'' (50 episodes, plus 10 specials and 7 guest star appearances)
* ''The Best of George Carlin'' (15 specials, plus 30 other guest appearances)
* ''The Big Comfy Couch''
* ''The Ultimate Carol Burnett Show Collection'' (50 Episodes, plus the special '' Carol + 2'' and the 1972 version of ''Once Upon a Mattress'')
* ''Cedarmont Kids''
* ''Childs Video Christmas'' (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and Frosty the Snowman)
* '' China Beach'' (complete series)
* ''The Clint Eastwood'' Collection
* '' CMA Awards'' Live (performance compilations)
* ''Dallas'' (seasons 1 to 4)
* ''Dolly: The Ultimate Collection'' (select episodes of '' The Porter Wagoner Show'', the 1976 and 1987 incarnations of the ''Dolly'' variety show, '' Crook & Chase'' and other assorted Dolly Parton appearances)
* '' Fat Albert''
* ''Get Smart'' (complete series)
* ''The Real Ghostbusters'' (complete series)
* ''Great Films of the Bible''
* ''Growing Up Wild''
* ''The Hee Haw Collection'' (select episodes and sketches)
* ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' (color episodes)
* ''The John Wayne'' Collection "Rio Bravo" (1959), "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949), "Stagecoach" (1939), "The Cowboys" (1972), "The Green Berets" (1968) and "The Quiet Man" (1952),
* '' Looney Tunes: Library''
* ''Lucy: The Ultimate 12 DVD Collection'' (76 episodes spanning ''I Love Lucy'', '' The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'', ''The Lucy Show'', ''Here's Lucy'' and ''Life with Lucy'')
* ''Mama's Family'' (complete series)
* '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' (complete series)
* '' The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast'' (complete series)
* '' The Dean Martin Variety Show'' (select sketches and episodes, by agreement with NBCUniversal and the estate of Greg Garrison)
* ''The Mayberry Collection'' (select episodes from ''The Andy Griffith Show'', '' Gomer Pyle, USMC'' and '' Mayberry R.F.D.'', plus the reunion movie '' Return to Mayberry'' and the backdoor pilot from ''The Danny Thomas Show'')
* ''Midway''
* ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers''
* '' Motown 25''
* ''NOVA'' (1974–85)
* ''Power Rangers'': From Mighty Morphin' to Lost Galaxy (seasons 1 to 7)
* ''The Ultimate Richard Pryor Collection: Uncensored'' (26 hours, spanning his television specials, ''The Richard Pryor Show'' and '' Pryor's Place'')
* ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (40 episodes)
* ''Saturday Night Live''
* ''Sesame Street''
* ''Thomas & Friends''
* '' Tales From The Crypt''
* ''The Best of The Muppet Show'' (complete series), produced by Jim Henson Home Entertainment
* ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' (complete series)
* ''The Red Skelton Show''
* ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' (Season 3)
*''I Got You Babe - The Best of Sonny & Cher''/''The Best of Cher'' (selected episodes from ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'', ''Cher'', The Sonny & Cher Show from the ‘70s, as well as '' Cher... Special'' and ''Cher and Other Fantasies'' specials)
* ''The Best of Soul Train'' (Highlights from the '70s)
* ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Johnny and Friends'' (licensed from Carson Productions)
* ''The Wonder Years'' (complete series)
* ''Trials of Life'' Video Offer
* ''Robin Williams: Comic Genius'' (five HBO specials and compilation of other TV appearances)
*''Zoo Life with Jack Hanna

See also

* List of record labels
* Columbia House

References

External links

Official site
– Defunct
*
*
* – archived 1998-99 interviews with contemporary Time-Life Books editors
* , held by the , Dance Division.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Time-Life
Magazine publishing companies of the United States
Companies based in New York City
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