Since you are new to machine embroidery, I'm surprised you'd want to jump straight to digitizing. Embird is a great program as you can add what you want & need and not pay for a bunch of stuff you won't use. It's the only program I've ever used and love it. I started out with the basic program and added on the Iconizer. To me that is a must so that you can see your designs in Windows instead of just the embroidery program. I also have the font engine. There are a lot of tutorials for embird on line and quite a few Yahoo Groups that are for Embird. Just search for the word Embird in the groups and you'll find them. IMHO, you can't go wrong with Embird.

Lori

I cannot rave too highly on the many features I love with Embird. I think it is the absolute best for the price. I only have basic Embird and its Iconizer plug-in at present, but should I desire to digitize, I will purchase the Studio plug-in at that time. Right now, there are so many beautiful designs available for sale and free, I don't feel the need to learn. If I had a bit more free time, I may!!
Good luck on your new adventure!
Angel

In my opinion you can not go wrong with Embird. I have had it more than 6 yrs. now & love it. So far everytime it is upgraded I get the upgrade for free./Lillian

I can only repeat what Lillian and others have said, definitely a great buy and lots of tutorials out there for working with it. *4U

Great, thank you for all your replies. I will try out the free version and see how I go.
Lori, I always jump in feet first,lol.
There are so many wonderful patterns for free and the designers are so generous with them.
I thought it may be easier to combine designs in a programme then load them into my machine, I'll see how I go.
Many thanks
Anne

When I purchased my first Janome, I also purchased their expensive software to go with it. Since then, I have purchased Embird and the janome software hasn't been used in over 2 years now. I find that there is also a lot of online support and help groups for embird. I have the basic Embird, Iconizer, and Studio.

I downloaded the trial Embird at Secrets Of, and my AVG said it was a threat and deleted it. I'm assuming I need to change the setting on my virus protection program, but I don't know how to change it just for that one instance. I, too, have been interested in buying Embird, but I know I have to download it the same way and then register it instead of getting a CD. Not sure what others do to work around this. Denise

A great product at a great price. I seldom say a product is UNDERPRICED, but the iconizer add-on is bargain priced.

With the basic Embird, what is the main feature you like? Do you combine designs before uploading to your machine? Alter sizes of designs?
Thanks
Anne
In Oz