I have PE Design Next and Stitch Era Universal. Maybe because I learned SEU first, I use it as my go-to software. I find it powerful and affordable. PEDesign is simply too cumbersome and not intuitive. I love my PR600 so I wished I also loved the Brother software...but alas, no so much.
I have PE Design/Next Version 9...I don't use it much...I use Janome MBX Ver. 4.5 as my go-to digitizing software...when I use PE/Next, it always seems like I need to do two or three more things to achieve the same thing as in the Janome MBX software...and the MBX does so much more than the PE/Next software...and is so much easier to learn and use...so for me, it's a no sale...If I had to do it over again, I would not buy it...I should have done more homework before my purchase...I was "told" it did things well that it really does not...just me talking out loud...I love the MBX and I also have Embird Basic for quick edits...
I have it and am learning new techniques every day bi just finished watching all 40 videos at www.oleens.com and they are great.