ZSK IDS or Wilcom?

Wilcom. HANDS DOWN! I have been a professional digitizer since 1990 and back then we really had much fewer options. Starting on a Melco Digitrac was fun but when computer assisted capabilities came about it really was between two powerhouses... Gunold WinGS and Wilcom.

I picked WinGS.... well, wrong choice. lol Wilcom is still viable and active.

Not that I think ANYONE who recently buys a machine should also get into digitizing though! have to stress that. Learn the machine... 6 months later if you want then try your hand at digitizing. It will take you a minimum of another 6 months to become fairly comfortable with basic designs and that is IF you have enough work to give you the practice time. Sub it out to start.

That being said WILCOM is the best out there.

...what robert said! i started with a different software in 1996 and switched to wilcom last july. it has WAY more features, some fancy, that i never use, but some extremely helpful. wilcom has stood the test of time and they do regular updates to improve.

but, yes, you don't need a full digitizing system unless you plan on getting serious about digitizing. most embroiderers don't have time to be good at both. most embroiderers can get away with an editing or lettering software. wilcom does have other versions that are not full digitizing. if you have a good digitizer, you shouldn't need editing....but it does come in handy. there are LOADS of digitizers out there, some are very cheap. but be careful. if you spend $15 on a design you're going to get a cheese sandwich. you don't get surf and turf for $15. if you're not running great designs, customers won't come back, and you'll either turn grey or yank your hair out trying to figure out if the problems are the machine or the design.

its cheaper to pay for one good design, rather than paying for one bad design, then ruining garments, then having to pay somebody to digitize it correctly.