This is an excellent French primer, though I can't say anything to the audio portions as I didn't try those. I used it in a class, with the aid of a teacher, but I still think the text stands well alone. The chapters are well-balanced between learning grammer, verbs and their conjugations, culture, and a set of nouns that all work together. There are also quite good attempts at learning phonetic pronunciation should you not have access to a french person or the internet for audio reference. Je le recommande!
I had to use this book for my French class. The book and audio is worthless. To someone that has had no French, you get lost in the first pages. The audio pronounces words incorrectly and they speak really quickly. If I were to use the book and disc by themselves, I would speak French no better than I began.
If you want to learn french with this book, find either a native speaker, a professor, or a native-speaking professor. Good luck.
I have never been so frustrated with a textbook in my life. I remember finding multiple typos and instances where you were supposed to magically know a concept that wasn't explained until later in the chapter. The audio CDs are a joke and not at all useful as they speak very quickly and record with background noise (on purpose).