I have P E Design v4, and v5...I've had v5 for 9 yrs and it will do most anything you will need to do--digitize your own designs, I don't even know what the later softwares do,,,,but I think it's just ''lipstick on the pig'', cause even v4 is all you ever need..said Loes van der Heijden (isn't this the person who created the software originally?) I have the ''mastering v4 teaching video" that makes it easy to understand and learn. But I've heard a lot about the 5Dpro, tho I've never experienced it. Why don't you download the free software from
http://www.wingsxp.com/index.php/my_editor/ and play around with it. It will let you do a lot with your designs--format, resize, change colors, split/copy/paste, save in new format--much more. I use it as much because there's no dongle necessary to access it. I've just learned of another free software -Bernina Artlink6 from Bernina
[1] direct link to softwarewww.bernina.com[
2] link to home page
www.bernina.com I think it is good idea to test several options before buying. Embird gets good marks from people who have it, but I could not figure it out. Too dumb, maybe.
http://www.wingsxp.com/index.php/my_editor/