Beginner Software

Look at embrilliance.com or Embird.com

A lot of people like these programs and there is a lot of support available for them.

I use stitch era universal.

I know it's not the best, but it fits into my budget!

The thing to bear in mind when looking at software is to not expect it to work miracles and produce wonderful embroidery if you don't understand the basics and what is behind the nature of the stitching.

Many of them are very clever and many will offer almost automatic design creation, but often fall well short.

The simple fact is that if the stitches are in the right order and the right place, any program will give a good design! Usually, the more expensive the software, the better it will be at creating stitches with the right placement and the quicker a design can be punched. However, you still need to understand fabrics, tensions, pull compensations, etc. before you can hope to produce quality, trouble-free designs.

Wilcom is, without doubt, the most sophisticated and intelligent, producing the best stitching for complex input. However, it has its flaws and is extremely daunting to learn.
Anyone without experience will be lost without a good deal of training from Wilcom and that is very, very expensive.

Of course, I don't know if they will always do it, but Wilcom also take other software in part-ex, so you can buy a rival and then virtually get your money back if you move up (although it does depend upon the grade of software and is probably limited to certain brands).

Compucon EOS/Baruadan TES (same thing) is not bad and, like most, modular. That means you can get a basic lettering level and then move up if you find it does the job you need. You might even be able to find some second hand.