Sorry to hijack into this discussion, but my problems to find the right pcb design program have been quite similar.
15 years ago I used a DOS program, called Traxedit, which I used to design an audio preamp on a two sided board perfectly.
Unfortunately that program doesn't run in Windows 7, so I have been trying a lot of them with very little luck.
The main problem is the learning angle is very steep, and mostly are designed to design your schematic first and then convert it to pcb.
My first try was Altium, because my partner is used to it. But Altium is so meticulous with EVERY little detail that doing a simple test design took me a week.
The schematic I had already done with Paint, just as a drawing, so I need to load the schematic.
My next tries were with KiCad, Eagle and DipTrace, but with them the tutorials were not as precise as they should be. They tell you to do some things, and the programs do not do it.
So I went back to more "primitive" programs like Circuitmaker and Traxxmaker, but their printer drivers are too old and do not work with Win 7.
My latest try was with Proteus, using Isis for the schematic and Ares for the pcb. I am at the schematic stage, but my first try to convert it to Ares did not work. I already asked this as a separate thread.
It's all very frustrating, but I need to make it work.