I have had mine for over a year now. I download free designs off the internet. A gal here named gail-r swears by a program called Embird.....http://www.secretsof.com/content/1798
There are a lot of free designs out there. I use a flash drive to transfer the designs off my computer to the machine. Some hook up a laptop to their machine.

emblibrary.com and embroiderydesigns.com are 2 great FREE websites. Learn as much as you can about stabilizers. They are different and used for different types of fabrics. I thought stabilizer was stabilizer and couldnt figure out why some designs stitched out so beautifully and others looked awful. Turns out it wasn't the designs, but my choice of stabilizer!

I have a PE-770 and have enjoyed using it. It uses PES format. If you want to do lettering other than what's built in, you might want to try Sew What Pro. With that software, you can use any TTF on your computer.

I did try my hand at digitizing a bit, using SEU (a Sierra product), which is free, but you have to be connected to the internet to use it. If you're satisfied with the on board designs, or those you can find online, you really don't need software, just a USB stick to transport the designs from your computer to the machine. I've also used a couple of design cards, but those are rather pricey.

I have had Embird for over 7 years and wouldn't be without it, I also like embroidery library