I use Floriani Total Control U. It's up there in the high dollar range. I don't believe you'll find a better program. Plus, once you buy it, all upgrades and updates are included forever. (I'm assuming at least till Walt Floriani is gone!). There is no dongle and no buying a new dongle. The upgrades in past four years have been phenomenol. Way over 100 beautiful fonts included, and I haven't counted in a while. There is excellent support, fabulous training materials - seminars, weekly lessons, etc. and 3-4 years of free beautifully digitized designs at the rate of 4-5 per month. The only down side and not a biggie is that there is a big learning curve, but take it at your own speed and with the help of all those good educational materials. Best decision I've made in my embroidering EVER.

You want to go to a Floriani event to buy it at a good discount, otherwise, you suffer FULL PRICE. Also, huge amounts of freebies at the event to give you a nice start. Best of luck.

I have not learned how to digitize. I however have purchased Embird. I chose it because over the years here I heard nothing but good about it.I also liked the fact that one could add modules as one was ready for them. That is the best answer I can give you.

I am a Bernina girl. Which machines do you use and what does your dealer support as the free lessons are valuable. Kay

I am an Embird fan. I have used Husqvarna software since 1998 and have upgraded from their Embroidery system 5 Pro up till 6D. And I use it for a great number of things, but I doubt whether I'll update again - it has cost me a fortune over the years. But for digitising I prefer Embird. It is easier.
All basic functions are more or less the same in most software programs, but some are easier to use than others. I find Embird a pleasure to work with and very easy to learn. There are lots of free tutorials on the Embird website. And a number of website offer tutorials to buy.
Some fill stitches are brand specific. I love one of the fill stitches Bernina offers, but it would be crazy to buy yet another program for a few extra's.
The Encore function in 6D and the auto-repeat in Embird give the same results. In 6D you can drag the resulting designs closer to each other, in Embird you need to adjust the gap by typing in the distance which is a bit slower, but E gives a greater choice in numbers of the repeat.

There are quite few members here using Embird to digitise, so you can always get advice when you have a specific question.

I am waiting to see if Viking makes a special offer to upgrade. I have 6D which I was able to upgrade from the 5D for very little $$$. Perhaps if you talk to the dealer you can work someting out upgrading from your 3D rather than switching brands--they like to keep you as a customer!!