*sigh* wish people would actually search through the past threads but anyway
Rosetta stone pretty much sucks for Japanese. Sure you can pick up a few phrases here and there but it's not a path to fluency at all. You can use it for practice but really its kinda crap.
How to start learning Japanese:
Method 1:
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/about
Just do it. It's a bit hardcore but it will get you to fluency no doubt about it. But going against what he says learn the Kana first it helps alot. Kana= Hiragana/Katakana. You can take Hiragana/Katakana courses here:
http://www.iknow.co.jp/courses
Method 2:
Grab a torrent of a Japanese textbook or actually buy the book. Work through the book. Now your done with the book congrats your at the level of a first year Japanese student. Now start reading Native materials and trying to figure out what you don't understand. Learn what you don't know. Now grab another book this time intermediate (might actually have to buy this) work through this and you should be pretty knowledgeable in Japanese. From then on its all just reading/writing/speaking practice get as much as you can. Also with this method use
http://www.ichi2.net/anki/ a spaced retention flashcard program. Input vocabulary, grammar examples etc etc. What ever you want to learn. Go here to pick up some vocab or learn the hiragana/katakana:
http://www.iknow.co.jp/courses
Its 100% free.
(I recommend Genki, and there are torrents for it. The intermediate level your going to actually have to buy)
Method 3:
Take classes, supplemented with lots of reading/speaking practice. Just because you took classes doesn't mean your gonna be fluent if you don't practice at all.
Also even if you decide not to go with the All Japanese All The Time method you should read his blog. He has a lot of inspirational types of messages and stuff that should help. Also you can take some parts of his method and combine it with another.
Notes: Personally I'm doing all of the methods >_> I'm taking classes, learning on my own and using some parts of AJATT. I'm still a beginner. These methods are mainly what i see people doing or recommend.
Some links to other threads
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1198482943
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1208400080
Heh I'm surprised I even wrote this...