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Rating:  - Bueno
I really enjoy this CD series. It is very easy to understand and I highly reccomend it.
Rating:  - Learn in Your Car
Between the initial lessons covered so far (Level 1) and Level 2 lessons (tape 2) there are several editorial errors. In some cases the response made in the CD has no connection with the initial phrase or it is in the wrong person or verb form.
Such errors would be particularly confusing if one were driving in a car and counting on a correct response without reference to the accompanying booklet. When using the booklet concurrently, the confusion is minimal.
There are also errors in the booklet, where that response has no connection with the initial phrase.
Also, in the many cases where the anticipated response is fairly long on the part of the listener, not enough time is given for the listener to frame his/her reply either out loud or in his/her head. One or two additional seconds would help.
Rating:  - Very dissatisfied with this product
I was listening and learning in the mornings as I got ready for work. I was enjoying learning until I got to CD labeled #3. It begins with "Lesson #4." I thought I had made a mistake and put in CD #4. I open the player to verify. It says Lesson #3. I was sent two #4 lessons.
I kept the original package and shipping receipt. I looked for an email address or phone number to call to get a replacement #3 cd. There wasn't any contact information. The fact that I got CD #4 twice was already a dissatisfaction. The fact that I could not contact anyone to remedy the situation made me a very dissatisfied customer.
I've completely abandoned learning Spanish at this point. I'm looking into a different product now. I'm very disappointed with the situation.
Rating:  - Very well packaged/profesisonal Product....But more boring to listen to than 'behind the wheel spanish'
Packaging:
I give LIYCS 5 stars for contruction. CD's are all pressed like commercially made cds. It comes w/ sturdy cd case, cd of mp3/pdf of booklets (though some of the tracks are 96 kbps rather than 128 kbps), dvd covering some popular tourist areas, and 3 booklets w/ transcript. Booklets pretty convenient to carry and have plenty of space for u to jot down notes. Though it says 9 CD's on the cover, the page actually has 2 extra bonus cd's for a total of 11 cd's. There's one bonus cd for Level 2 and another one for Level 3 that provides more examples.
I give BTWS 1 star for construction. CD's are CD-r's that have been burned and have a white sticker in front which is b/w and printed using a laser printer. Several of the tracks skipped and the first package that I got had CD #8 that didn't have any data on it...it was a blank CD-R. Amazon promptly shipped me a replacement the next day. Included is a book which has like 8 chapters w/ material that are separate from the audio cd. At the end of the book is a few pages in size 6 font that tries to squeeze all the transcriptions from the 8 cd's into a dozen pages. It also has transcriptions from Spanish II and Spanish III courses.
Content:
LIYCS gets 4 stars. It's mostly a traditional tape that covers all the contents of Spanish language. However, I found it boring 2/2 to the repetition. Typical example would be: "We pay in cash"...followed by "Pagamos al contado" twice. No variation in speed. Contrast this with BTWS, where the English narrator would mix things up and ask something unexpected, like: "So learner, how would you say "'We pay in cash?'". LIYCS seems more difficult by the last CD than BTWS. LIYCS also divide each cd until more tracks than BTWS. For example, BTWS has some tracks that are 20 minutes. One good thing about LIYCS is that you could easily go to a certain cd to learn more about preterit because there's a table of contents. On the other hand, the transcription in BTWS doesn't have any table of contents.
BTWS gets 4.5 stars. The packaging sucks, but the content is more entertaining. Easier to stay engaged. However, it's annoying that the english speaker calls you "learner"..lol. "Learner, please.." In terms of content, BTWS seems to cover less material. Maybe that's why they have Level II and III, which are sold separately. I started off w/ 3 cd's from BTWS and then switched to LIYCS cuz LICYS seemed to cover more material. I'll update this section once I get back to BTWS.
Overall:
I'd buy BTWS if i'm a complete novice. Once I'm done w/ that, I'd consider LIYCS to get more vocab or consider BTWS Level II. To be honest, I'd go w/ BTWS since it keeps me more engaged and is more entertaining. They're supposed to come out w/ an updated version in August 2008. Hopefully by then it'll correct the deficiencies and be more professional. In the mean time, since I have both, and I previously had some high school spanish, going through LIYCS is easier cuz I can skip around easily and target the areas that I've forgotten, like preterite, imperfect, etc. You can't go wrong either either product.
Rating: - GREAT BACK UP
I was a little disappointed that the bonus disk that come with this set didn't work...especially since it was new. By the time I found this out a considerable time had past and it was to late to return. These lessons are very easy to understand and make a great supplement to my Pimsleur lessons. I wouldn't suggest using this as your sole source for learning Spanish... it can become very mundane, (very slow repeating of every sentence and word). However, for the low price I recommend it as a great second learning tool as I like to use several different things to keep my learning more lively.
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