I am not 100% decided yet about pricing of RDSS going forward, but here is what I am leaning to:
RDSS
may have a
two-track Subscription level.
The
Base level will be what it is now for what you get now: $150 annually (and that includes the repaired functioning of the Rx screen with Rx3 including BRIS ProfitLine).
The
Plus level (or 'enhanced', or 'going-forward' whatever - I am somewhat allergic to marketing moniker hype terminology) - will cost
extra and may include everything that follows in the future: namely the new Rx+ screen (including BRIS Prime Power BPP), a few new versions of the Rx rating (Rx4, Rx5 ...), wager construction tools like Dutching/Hedging, horizontal wagers, direct wager submission to ADWs, the Record Keeping Module including Models, Profiles and Wager Tracking, and any enhancements to the Tote Analysis system (Exacta and Daily Double pools), new uses of Result Charts.
Also - if you want to see
Results after the race and have these automatically included in your Models or Wager Tracking logs, you'll need to subscribe to the
TrackMaster RDSS Bundle data plan (which formally provides for Results). For a few years, I have been providing quick Results including finish positions and Mutuel Payouts courtesy of TwinSpires, but due to contractual obligations with Equibase/TrackMaster, I cannot continue to do this much longer. If you don't need Results (i.e. you don't keep Models or track your wagers or need to see them in the software where they currently appear on the Rx screen, OR you wish to do all this record keeping manually) - no worries: you don't need to pay extra for the Results data plan.
If I do decide to have a
Plus software subscription option (for a higher annual price), I will give EVERYONE including all new users access to that enhanced version for an initial complimentary period - so you can figure out if it is worthwhile.
My point of view is (and as suggested by several folks who have made the case) - RDSS should pay for its annual subscription - and data - costs.
If it does not, you are not yet using it correctly!
I'll let everyone know what I decide, with plenty of time to try it all out. (Meanwhile, I can suggest you tune into some of the recent
Selections Threads where some testers of the new version are live posting their predictions and results).
As a final point - I am now 64 years old (never thought I'd say that
) and having the time of my life
. However I am quite clear now that producing, supporting and marketing RDSS will NEVER make me the kind of money I deserve for how many decades I have put into racing and the Sartin Methodology, let alone even longer becoming a very good computer software developer. The
real money in all this (to the
relative degree that 'money' alone measures value in doing anything) is in BETTING and I gradually wish to be able to spend more and more time actually betting rather than mostly programming and supporting RDSS. Plus, it's way more fun
(and sounds like a great 'retirement', whatever than means ...)
That said, I still wish to make a little more from my '
day job' and feel I deserve it - hence the possibility of charging a bit more for some new aspects of RDSS
if people agree it has added value for them.
I'll surely make any decisions on this by the end of the year, maybe even after I release the next update for everyone to 'kick the tires' for a while.
Cheers,
Ted