The Plaud Note. Image: PLAUD.AI
If you have been looking up AI-powered devices, you might have come across the Plaud Note. It's a compact voice recorder that records both voice notes and phone calls, and then uses AI to transcribe and translate the recordings.
At the time of writing, I’ve used the Plaud Note for roughly a week and the short story is that it works as advertised. Its thin aluminium alloy design coupled with the included MagSafe case makes it a rather compact recording tool. As mentioned, the device features two recording modes: one for phone calls and another for voice notes.
Its thickness is about the size of a credit card. Photo: HWZ
It's worth mentioning that voice calls are recorded using the Plaud Note's vibration conduction sensor, so it has to be attached to the phone. This isn't a problem for iPhones with MagSafe since the recorder comes with a MagSafe case, but it could be an issue for Android devices (though there is a magnetic ring sticker for Android devices). Alternatively, you could also record by using the phone's speaker, but that's obviously not great for both privacy and recording accuracy.
In general, when recording on either mode, the voices captured are loud and clear enough to be heard upon playback. Within the Plaud Note lies three microphones that record at a fairly high bitrate of 1536kbps. The recorder has 64GB of internal storage and that's good for roughly 30 hours of voice recording.
The accompanying Plaud application is where all the heavy lifting is done. Once audio files are synced to the app (which is done automatically), users can generate summaries, transcribe, and translate recordings using GPT-4o or Claude 3.5.
Users can toggle between the transcript, an AI-generated summary, and a mind map of key topics within the recording. Image: HWZ
It takes roughly a minute for a recording to be summarised and transcribed which will then be neatly presented. As you might expect, the accuracy of transcription in English is not 100% accurate but it is usable enough.
However, one downside of the Plaud Note is that it utilises a subscription-based model. The free plan that comes with the device includes up to 300 monthly transcription minutes, which should be plenty for casual recordings.
Folks using it to record meetings and lectures will almost definitely need more time, which can be purchased via the Pro and Unlimited plans. The Pro plan gives you 900 monthly transcription minutes and costs S$99.98 annually, while the Unlimited plan gives you unlimited minutes and costs S$349.98 a year.
Overall, while I do think the Plaud Note makes transcribing and summarising meetings a painless process, there are other ways that you can do so without the device. For instance, you could use your phone’s native recording app and upload the audio to free or paid transcribing services such as Otter.ai, or even just ask ChatGPT to help with transcribing and summarising.
However, where Plaud Note might be more useful than all the other evolving free/paid app/subscription services out there, is that it boasts the ability to transcribe 112 languages, generate key-point summaries with over 25 professional templates (such as meeting note, key points, task assignment, class, Q&A etc.) and even mind maps.
So, there's a lot more use for the device and service, but the applicability might be limited unless you attend many multi-lingual meetings and your job revolves endlessly from one meeting to another. If you do fit this profile, perhaps Plaud Note could be a reliable companion.
Pricing and Availability
If you’re interested in purchasing the Plaud Note for yourself, it is available for purchase for S$229 in three colours – Black, Starlight, and Silver – from Shopee and Lazada. Alternatively, you can also purchase it from physical retailer stores such as Best Denki, Challenger, Courts, Gain City and the Sprint Cass stores.
More information about the Plaud Note can be found on Plaud.AI's website here.
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