Hey, welcome to the forum, nice to see new people here.
“Can’t do anything”, isn’t exactly true. There are two major things that subscription gets you: access to the built-in design tools and (if you have an Aura) the ability to upload larger files – fairly necessary if you intend to engrave photos.
The machine can still work with any svg, pdf, or raster you give it, but you’ll need to either get the files pre-made or learn third party editing software. The design tools in the UI are handy but definitely not necessary.
If you aren’t sure what I mean about third party editing software, there are whole threads about various options. here’s one:
The good news is that there are plenty of free tools that are very capable, and others that are paid that are quite nice too. It all comes down to preference.
Let me know if you have any other questions. In the meantime, you might like this post I made that covers a lot of things that are good to know as a new user:
Welcome!