mary, I hope you found what you need and that we see lots of new projects that you designed. *4U
There are lots of software out there. My adorable husband bought my embroidery machine for me last year (2006) for Christmas. First time I was ever speechless and totally shocked. HaHa. I had never told him I wanted one, not even a hint. He also bought me a sofeware program. I had it about 3 months and was never happy with it because it would not do all I wanted. The store was nice enough to give me credit on it and I after looking at sofeware programs they had I purchased one and it does everything I want. It was reasonably priced. It was around $900. The program is called Masterworks. It is made my Designers Gallery. They do have a website (designersgallery.com) and you can download a trial program to play with it. I'm sure other software programs offer similar trials. Search the web, talk to other stitchers, try some of the trial downloads. Take your time and purchase what is right for you.
Mary, take your time looking at digitising software, think about what you want to do with it. Learn the difference between auto and manual digitising. Look back in the questions here, there has been heaps of talk on this subject and you'll find some very helpful advice. More expensive doesn't always mean better, and you might not need a program that has all the whistles and bells. Hopefully others will answer your question throughout the next day or so, and help you to choose what's best for you. All the best with whatever you choose sweetie, hugs and flowers.
Have you ever looked at Embird an embroidery software program. I have vikings 3D and Embird and I like Embird so much better and it is very very resonably priced.
yes i did alot cheaper i have a brother it is pe design basic i just want to learn how to make them snowflake names like on http://www.freenamemania.com/