I'm wanting to print some labels for my rods. I have an Alps MD1000 and was wondering what software you guys are using to design and print the labels on a PC.

Most word processing software will do what you want, but a publishing program or text editing program will really let you delve into some real nice stuff. I use Illustrator for mine and can make almost any type of effect or background I like. Of course that's a really hefty price tag on that one just for making rod labels. Something like MS Publisher or Corel Print Shop is easier on the pocket book and will probably do all you want. I haven't looked recently, but many simple word processing programs now have all sorts of graphics capabilities.

One other thing if you work with colors though. On the Mac you've got ColorSync and what you see is what you will get. On a PC, its a crapshoot and you need to run some test prints to see how the color on your screen matches your printer's output. The shade can be way off sometimes.

Lee as William said most word processing software will do for inscriptions,for simple clip art kind of projects,Print Shop,and others in that price range will work fine,if however you decide to design your own labels and are looking into some complicated design work,you might look into Corell Draw or the Adobe programs,for better pricing try e bay,a new version of Corel runs over $400.
Even the corel program has color problems when using the mettalic colors.

I have Adobe Illustrator 8. Very powerful program and kinda expensive. It's amazing what can be done on this program. The only thing I don't like about it is that when you create an image you can not save it as a bpm or jpeg. It will only save as an ai. file. Other than that it's amzingly powerful. Find someone who has a copy and try it out. Takes some getting use to because of it's capability.

Good luck,
Steve