With this audio set, you just turn it on, listen and repeat.
The nine discs progress through, gradually introducing new
words, verbs, pronouns, nouns, etc incorporating the grammar
rules as you go. It is certainly the most satisfying and fun
way to learn that I have tried. I found it interesting to use
the things was already familiar with, but you could use it
without knowing anything and pick up a good working knowledge
of Italian.

In the set there are included 3 extra discs by the author about how
to approach learning any new language: very useful, although
the audio quality is somewhat " home-made ".

Like the name say's, it's for learning in your car. As explained
in another review, there's English in one ear and Italian in the other.
I found that O.K. I did find that the gaps left for
speaking are pretty short: you really need to think quick.This
may be deliberate, but sometimes I like to pause the player and
think about the answer. I transferred all my discs onto one
to avoid having to change them over.

One serious point: learning in your car can be distracting and
there are some safety implications to this: I’ll say no more.
In summary then, a very good buy for use on its own
or as a supplement to other material.

I spent a good deal of time going through all nine CD's and I have now just returned from Italy, having had the first chance to try my skills out. My impressions were as follows:

1. I can think of no other way of learning so much of the language without taking time out to do lessons or study books at home. Those 30-40 minutes a day in the car, every day, would be difficult to find otherwise.
2. You are learning to speak by listening and speaking out-loud, not by reading. This gives extra confidence in speaking. The repetition of listening to a native speaker over and over again gives you a good feel for the sounds of the language.
3. The continual repetition of set sentences forces you to think quickly and clearly, which is good in conversation.
4. Because it is based on repetition, it does not so much equip you for spontaneous expression and conversation. But neither does any other kind of book or CD-Rom.
5. Encourages clear, accurate pronunciation, and accurate grammar.
6. In no way helps writing or spelling. I have still never written a word in Italian. Even though the product comes with booklets, it's far from being a full grammar guide and I must say I barely used the booklets. I did however refer to another book when I was unsure of grammar points - I used Italian in Three Months for this purpose. It covers about the same amount of grammar and vocab.

When I went to Italy and spoke for the first time, everyone could understand clearly straightaway, and was happy to speak back in Italian. I could handle most general situations without difficulty. These CD's allowed to me to get to this level without any study time set aside. All I had to do was to use the CD's to and from work, rather than listening to radio or music.