Brother PED-Basic Embroidery Card Writer

Well this is rather frustrating. I bought the PED-Basic (package). I am running win 8.1. Downloaded from Brother website. I have had to hack into the program itself and add .pes files to the Samples folder in order to get the program to recognize my .pes files.I have a SE270D (yep, it is an oldie, but a goody) and if I mini-hack into the actual Samples folder all is well. I don't know if I am the only person on the planet that has run into the issue, but aside from it being a little laborious it works fine. If there are any others out there having this issue and have a different work around, I would love to hear comments. Since my machine doesn't have any other means of transferring the pattern except with a card, I am happy that it gives me the option of having so much variety, even if it isn't all that easy to use.UPDATE: This is really an odd issue. I have 2 computers, both Win 8.1 - One is a Dell, the other is an HP laptop. The program works perfectly on my HP Laptop, but I have had several issues with my Dell. I have no idea why. My laptop will also run other programs that my desktop won't. Just thought it was worth noting.I may be the only person using this software that has had a problem. I wish I had an explanation. If anyone has had this happen and has tip or trick, I would love to hear about it. Thanks.

I was delighted to pick up a refurbished Brother 350 sewing and embroidery machine to add to my collection. This is my first true embroidery machine, so I really had no clue about downloading additional embroidery patterns to my machine. The machine came with 64 "built-in" embroidery patterns. I quickly realized that in order to expand this library, I would need an interface of some kind. Enter PED Basic. Once I realized what I needed and what it would do, I searched online for the best price and found it at Amazon.The PED Basic is really basic. It allows you to download designs from the internet and write them to a memory card that can then be inserted into the embroidery machine. These memory cards are unique, and many of the sewing machine brands have ones that only their brand can read and use. With so many nice internet sites where designs are free or a few dollars, it is really tempting to want more and more.The drawback of PED Basic is that whenever you want to write new designs to your memory card, it deletes all the previous data. A way to get around this is to keep all your designs in the same "folder" on your computer and re-write them all to the card every time you get new ones. Or you could just add new ones and keep back-ups on your computer for designs you might want to use again.All in all, PED Basic does what it says it will do, is easy to install and easy to use because it is so basic. On the negative side, it is overpriced for what it is, but since all the sewing machine manufacturers want to have their own systems, demand is probably low for any given brand's device and they can charge you whatever they want and you will pay it.

I've been doing machine embroidery for about 5 years, and just purchased my first Brother machine (which I absolutely adore). Before that, I have 2 other machines, and I used card readers/writers by Amazing Box. My first one broke. The second one still works. But, these Amazing Box products are amazingly flimsy, light and cheap. The software barely works with any operating system, and trying to used the things was always on a hope and a prayer.Then, because I want everything to be just perfect with my new and expensive Brother machine, I bought the PED Basic box with blank card media. I plugged it into my USB, loaded the software, and transferred a design from my computer to the card without having to even look at any instructions. The card then went into my machine, the machine picked out the design, and everything stitched flawlessly.The PED Basic card reader/writer is small and compact, but has a good amount of weight to it. It feels sturdy and of high quality. It is fast and simple to use. So, even if I didn't have 2 inferior products to compare this to, I'd still have to give this box 5 stars.And, you definitely can't beat the price at Amazon! Now, I just have to find an additional blank card, since I like to have 2 or 3 of them "just in case".

I love this!!I have a brother ULT2003D that has a memory card slot and a Floppy Disk slot. Wanting the newer designs for it I purchased an USB External Floppy Disk Drive and it works perfectly for downloading designs from the CD embroidery designs that you buy and also for downloading designs from online. However, my machine has recently started giving me fits so I purchased a very nice, but older embroidery machine for a back up. It only has an memory card slot so I purchased the Brother PED-Basic Software for Downloading my current designs and problem solved.I watched a video on youtube "Machine Embroidery - How to download and save a pattern" which helped by showing me how to make a new file in "Documents" and name it EMBROIDERY DESIGNS and how to put my embroidery designs in this file. Once I did this the book was simple enough to figure out from there, very easy and quick to do.I was surprised how many designs I was able to put on the card - 18 4x4 designs. The designs you select to put on the card can be changed any time you want to use different designs, which is less expensive than buying more memory cards.When you get the Brother PED-Basic software for Downloading it will have a sheet of paper with it that reads, "Important Read Before Use" For WINDOWS 2000/XP/VISTA/7 users. Which is 4 simple steps for set up with the CD-ROM. After that you plug the card writer (PED_Basic) into your USB and your ready to go.