I am not aware of a machine that uses a CD.You can download to memory cards. I have a Brother ULT which has a floppy drive slot & a memory card slot. I download from the computer to a floppy in my machine's format. Nothing connects to my machine from the computer. I do have a PE Design software BUT I haven't mastered the complicated thing so far.

Thanks, Joansews4u.

I was just asking if the principle was the same regarding the CD. So, there are two kinds of critters? One that has software that only creates a card to store designs, while some have floppy drives where you bypass the memory card?

Thanks

Holly

Bernina Artista 200 has a CD reader, but I don't know if it'll work with a CD you burn yourself. I think it only reads OESD CDs that are made for Bernina. I've only used it to read professionally done CDs; however, I prefer to load them onto my computer if they're multi-format ones...that way I have a better and larger view of them and can save them into Portfolio (a design management system). The software people at OESD told me that the digitizer makes the choice of whether or not to release the CD as a multi-format one, but it seems that more and more of them (multi-formats) are becoming available.

My ellageo takes any old floppy disk in addition to the small embroidery cards on which I can load six designs at a time. I think the baby lock machine that is one step fancier than mine lets you take things directly from the hard drive or a CD via a USB port.

I think the sky is the limit depending on what you want to spend. Plus there are better and easier digitizing programs than embird. I personally HATED it.

I can save designs from my machine to a memory card & the PE Design 4 that I have uses a memory card & has a card reader. I understand the later versions don't have to have a card reader. I know just enough to be as confused as possible. I simply have not had the time to devote to learning to digitize. In the 3 years since I bought mine, I have wished many times over that I never spent that much money. I knew too little about embroidery machines & designs that were available to have purchased the whole deal to begin with. There has been a 5.0 & a 6.0 come out since I got mine. MSLP on mine was about $1500 & it is completely outdated by the advances & ease of use on the newer ones.

I have yet to see any benefits from any pe design- be it 4.0 thru 6.o. I haven't seen(heard from) anyone on this site that can actually endorse, help, aid, give a "cheat sheet" bla, bla. You spend a fortune on a brother ULT and then spend the rest of your time being ticked off at the "wonderful" pedesign4.0-6.0. I can't fault the ULT because it can do alot of "design overs" and you can "save" them in a floppy that you have in the machine or a new one - as long as you have it on edit. I do believe in embird and tajima (which is free). You can take any file and assign it to your machine (format-wise)onto a floppy. Once your ULT has it, you can play around with it and give your finished product back to your floppy or machine memory using the memory indication on your machine. I have done minor things on my PE design but what it took me in hours is ridiculous. It's probably just me. But I never get the same thing twice. So... I've learned to by pass and get what I want and just thread the machine and go. By the way, you can save designs from Bernina (I paid for them)thru Tajima or embird and use them on your Brother. I have both embroidery machines and sometimes have to work both to save time. Hey Joan, I didn't know you had the ULT - I may have to make a few trips to your house! Katrina hit me hard!

Holly, if you haven't made a decision yet, your best bet is probably to visit a couple of machine dealers and talk with them in detail about what you want to do. There are a lot of "photo stitch" programs available, but the results vary. Also, photo stitch is very dense, making a very stiff design, and takes a long time and uses a lot of thread. I've only stitched one - it's about 2" X 3" and it took my machine over 2 hours to stitch it and it's so stiff it's like a board.

Digitizing is a process with a really steep learning curve. There are so many hundreds of thousands of designs available (many for free) that I don't think I'd ever want to really get into it myself.

Ditto costumegrl!! I agree with you on PEDesign. It is extremely hard to use, so I wasted my money buying it. I sill haven't been able to figure out how to digitize and stitch out the things I had planned, although I'd still like to.

I am confused too! I want to try my hand at digitizing but only because I am handicapped and at the computer a lot.Mostly I sit here just staring at the different sites. Now on reading some of the post not only am I confused more but realize I will never and I do mean never be able to afford even just the software to digitize. But I would like to know the difference.
Thanks for any help

froggie

I have PE-Design 6, Embroidery Office ($1500), and the complete Embird Suite. Having it to do over I would probably just use Embird. For $85, you can do most things your looking for, ie: download designs in ANY format, convert them for your brother, re-size them (within reason, split them across hoops, etc. You can attach the amazing box if you donÂt have the PE box, and write out to a brother card. See their web site and download it for a free trial, but you will need a writer/reader box. I still use PE sometimes for simple digitizing just because itÂs so simple, but bang for the buck, Embird is hard to beat, and they have free video tutorials also.