Elvis -Simply The Best cover art

Its cool making covers for favorite songs cd,I only use Paint in XP so there are limitations
any suggestions for free and good software?

Give "Gimp" a try...free to download and cool to use.....

Adobe Fireworks or Adobe Illustrator,gimp is OK but not really a pro or good choice.
as my dad always told me,you get what you pay for.

My advice is , get CS4 get manuals , dare to try and work details.

I like Paint.NET it's FREE, http://www.getpaint.net/.
There are Paintshop plugins and other free plugins available too to make it more versitle.