I have a close Chinese friend who listened to some of the recordings on my IPod - she said go with CLO. She constantly remarks on my great accent which she says is always the biggest problem.
I travel a great deal and knowing Chinese, even a little, can only be helpful when 1/4 to 1/3 of the worlds' population speaks Mandarin Chinese. You are doing a great job - I seem to be going very slowly; however, my friend says I am not but rather she is impressed with where I am and again is most concerned about the correct accent.

I've been learning Chinese characters for a couple of years (after I learned Japanese for a while). Reading simplified characters is therefore relatively easy for me, but there is a big gap to my listening and speaking skills, incl. usage of grammar.

What I like most about Chinese Learn Online is really the English-to-Chinese practice, something others (incl. ChinesePod) don't have enough of even though it is THE key skill I believe. The more is really the better here. I just feel the CLO approach is more organized, at least it helped me more.