Free Republic

Columbia House, the subscription-based mail-order music club, has quietly announced it is shutting down. ”After 9/15/26, The Columbia House will no longer be accepting new orders,” noted a message on the company’s website. “You can still purchase books with your credit card or credits as normal.” Columbia House was originally launched in 1955 by Columbia Records. Designed as a way to reach music lovers in rural or suburban areas that often didn’t have record stores, the Columbia House concept was simple, yet revolutionary. Customers could order records by mail and have them delivered directly to their home. Membership often came...

It used to be impossible to get any cheesier than the old 12 CDs for 1 penny deal that Columbia House used to hook new members. The CDs tended to be turkeys bound for the discount rack and the artists one mediocre release away from being a Vegas lounge act that no one was quite willing book on a weekend night. The Columbia House program conveniently emptied the corporate warehouses of unwanted plasticware and wasted rolls of film and basically suckered chumps and losers into buying a bunch of stuff no one really considered entertaining. Well now they've gone one...

Columbia House, famous for its "12 CDs for a penny" record clubs, will launch its own adult video club with Playboy Entertainment at the end of this month. The service, called Hush, will sell pornography through direct mail and a Web site. While 50-year-old Columbia House is eager to cash in on the $12 billion porn business, officials are pretty hush hush about Hush.