I have been using EAGLE for the last 8 years or so, and the new 5.0 version got rid of every complaint I had about it. It's free, with a $50 license. I highly recommend it for hobbyists.

In December I bought Labcenter's Proteus Ares. It is truly amazing, and with the simulator option (ISIS) you can actually watch your code run, step, and watch variables.