If you have windows on your computer it will unzip your downloaded embroidery files and you can put them on your zip drive and plug that into the machine. I would go on
www.sewforum.com. There are a lot of embroidery people on that forum with a section dedicated to just embroidery. I wouldn't put your email on forums like this because they are public and you can attract a lot of spam. It is always best to just pm someone with your questions. as for the open toe plate it is a new attachment for the muvit foot that allows more and it has 1/4 inch markings on it.its like having an open toes walking foot. I have already used it the part is sa195 you can get it from kenssewingcenter.com shipping is always free. There are some free programs to download to view your embroidery files. I have software so can't remember what they are, but almost all softwares have a free 30day trial so take advantage of that. embird is the cheapest with the most features. I have pe design plus, have only used it once, the only benefit I can see is it comes with the card reader so I can buy brother cards if and when I want. you can get pe basic for 100 off of many websites, which just allows you to view your designs and comes with a card reader. pe design plus has a few more features but you will not be able to digitize like embird and embird is a few hundred dollars cheaper