It's better to listen. Pronounciation is important.

If you're interested in learning any laguage you should try to learn from as many sources as possible. In this case you mention audio and visual. Both would be great. I think the book is a no brainer but at the same time, you really won't learn pronounciation there. I found spanish to be very easy. The most important thing will your determination and thirst for learning.

Absolutely. Listening to the CD you will understand more of the cadences and inflections.

Here's some Spanish learning tips and references that I like: 1- Get movies on DVD and turn on the subtitles in Spanish. Ride the pause button: as soon as the subtitle appears, read it aloud, look up any words you don't know, try to understand what is written. If you don't get it, listen to the English soundtrack by hitting Play (usually the subtitles appear slightly before the actor starts talking, to give readers more time). 2- When you get more advanced, turn on the Spanish audio too, and dispense with the English. 3- Listen to the many free podcasts aimed at Spanish students. I like these (http://www.notesinspanish.com ) 4- Use http://www.wordreference.com to look up words. They also have language forums where you can get help from native speakers, usually quite quickly. 5- In Spanish, the biggest problem is verb conjugation. It's complex and requires a lot of effort to master. Get this book and actually do the exercises: http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Makes-Perfect-Spanish-Tenses/dp/0844273341 6- Listen to Spanish radio stations while driving. A lot. 7- Throughout the day, when you're alone and thinking, try to translate your thoughts into Spanish out loud. It's important to keep making your brain work to come up with valid output in Spanish. 8- Make a friend who is learning English. In many places, there are adult schools teaching English as a second language to native Spanish speakers. Many of these would jump at the chance to have an English-speaking practice partner. 9- Get a tutor. There's nothing like one-on-one attention from someone who is bilingual and is paid to correct you. 10- Have a long time horizon. Learning a language is a big job, and takes a long time. You need a reason to go to all that trouble, and expectations appropriate to the effort involved.

A DVD so you can hear how it is spoken.