Tina, My experience is with the Brother machine. I have an older one 2002D which translates into built in 2002 and has some Disney designs built in. I bought it from a friend and she didn't want much for it at all so I was very lucky.... It also has about 10 different fonts for letters built in. Most of the machines have some fonts built in and you don't need any software for your computer to get them to work. This is the case with most embroidery machines. Now when it comes to your own designs you will need to have some sort of software that you can 'digitize' them. A lot of the embroiders that I have read about don't use the software that is made for their machine. Each machine has their own version of digitizing software and they don't work for the other machines unless you have a 'converting' program. BUT there are several digitizing programs on the market that are cheaper and they are not fixed to the specific machine. If you are looking for simple and less expensive I would join the Yahoo! groups. There are Brother, Viking, Singer, Pfaff and of course the places that sell stuff like SewItsForSale, Quilter's Flea Market. I know how confusing it is trying to figure these things out on your own. It is just as bad when you know nothing about quilters on the frame and start looking..... Try a search here for embroidery software and I'm sure you will find all kinds of responses.