Shana, if I understand your question re the PED Basic (I've owned it)..an easy to install, simple program that only moves designs from your computer to a re-writable card. Each time you want to use new designs from your computer, the reader/writer box erases the card to allow the new ones to be written to it. All your designs remain in your computer--they are not erased or lost! You can load quite a number of designs at one time, and since the 8500 uses different size hoops-- you can mix the design sizes onto your card. It's a Brother product, so it only works for .pes designs. When you buy the Basic from Walmart, AllBrands, wherever, you should not install from the disk unless it is the updated version. You could just go to the Brother site and install for your operating system from there---especially if you have other than WinXP. I think there are special downloads for Vista and Win7. After installing, connect the reader/writer box and drivers will then be installed for it. The serial # is verified thru the box. And be sure to register your ownership w/Brother for easy tech help in case you need it. I have a friend with the same Emb mach, and installed it for her. I let mine go with a Bernina I sold...and I had bought it on sale for $96. Absolutely worth the cost for you if you don't want to digitize your own designs right now. However, you must realize that it only transfers designs--no other options are included except resizing a wee bit --that's why it's called "basic". BUT..it provides you with ability to see images of your downloaded designs instead of just a little square icon with numbers.