Review: Plaud Note – 
the GPT-4o & Claude3.5 Powered AI Voice Recorder

Let’s be honest: voice recording and transcribing is a niche process that many folk may consider surplus to requirements on a daily basis. This niche however, is suitably big enough to warrant the presence of this device.

The Plaud Note is a very svelte, credit card-sized bit of tech that could prove to be indisposable for its target customer. Remember the old days when we would put pen to paper and make notes? My doctor (and yours too perhaps) still records his assessment of patients on a dictaphone device which he gives to the secretary to type up (How “Last century”!). This is a practice that is possibly centuries old. With the proliferation of AI, it’s high time it evolves to align itself with the zeitgeist of the present day.

In the Box

The box, I feel, is larger than necessary for such a diminutive device. I suspect it needs to be big to fit the substantial amount of copy that is printed on the back at what my 52-year-old eyes discern as, ridiculously small. Inside, there is the device itself which sits on its own indented tray. Underneath this flap, there is the obligatory Welcome booklet, a handy (but annoyingly snug) Magsafe sleeve, a magnetic ring which adheres to the rear surface of your phone cover (if it’s not MagSafe compatible) and magnetically attaches to the sleeve. For frequent users, this will ensure that the Plaud Note will travel with them wherever they go. Also in the box, there is a handy USB A-C adaptor and a magnetic USB charging cable that has a connector similar to one used for charging smartwatches.

Setting up

Unsurprisingly, you will need to download the Plaud app to get going with the Note. This is available for iPhone and Android users from their respective stores. An account needs to be set up before the union of the Plaud App and device can take place. For me, at this point, I think I aged 10 years. I followed the instructions to the letter yet the App would not recognise the device. It felt like an eternity had passed before I plucked up the courage to try once again. All of a sudden the dark clouds parted, the sun’s rays illuminated the room and the device was finally recognised by the App. I breathed a huge sigh of relief!

To start with, you need to pair the device with the App. This is done by pressing the Record Button and waiting for the white light to flash. Once pairing is complete, PLAUD_NOTE appears in your connected Bluetooth devices list.

Features

Now that I could finally get cracking with the review, I hastened to explore the device further.

Essentially, the device has only two buttons – a recording mode switch and a record button.

Recording mode switch: This mode enables Phone Call Recording. I feel this feature could appeal to business users, journalists and law firms. Do note, however, that recording phone calls may require all participants’ consent and depending on where you are located, may even be unlawful.

As is commonplace with a lot of devices, there are payment plans integrated into the Plaud Note offering. All users get 300 minutes a month to utilise the device’s capabilities. For an additional cost, there is also a 6000 minutes/ month transcription quota option. For heavy users, an annual Pro Plan may be worth consideration which gives 1200 minutes/ month. Full Terms & Conditions are on the www.plaud.ai website.

I found the Plaud Note to be surprisingly accurate with its transcribing function. Of course, it may struggle with unusual words, but this can be easily edited manually in the text file it produces. The microphone is quite sensitive, so I would recommend that the device be placed on a steady surface when in use and not held in the hand. I was anxious about its phone call recording claims, but it did this in its stride with satisfactory results.

Being Chat GPT enabled proves to be a winner when it comes to summarising. The Note can cleverly remove extraneous waffle and capture the main points of spoken interactions. I have never personally required the use of Mind Maps but it did this with ease. Mind maps are saved as jpg files and can be shared.

Who would use it?

Let’s say that you’re an attentive student, attending classes or lectures and you’re subjected to listening to the teacher drone on about something seemingly insignificant. The Plaud Note will record everything taught and transcribe it into a text file, ready for you to read at your leisure. But wait! Thanks to its integration with ChatGPT, it will also summarise the key points of the lecture and present you with bite-size snippets. For visually stimulated users, It will generate mind maps too. Mind maps are a great way to understand how a story, idea or discussion develops. Users can hone in on brainstorming sessions to garner the evolution of creative concepts.

If you’re a journalist, the Plaud Note could be used for transcribing interviews, which could give you an
(un)fair advantage over rivals to get the latest scoop published.

If you’re a hard-nosed lawyer or law enforcer, it can be imperative to record and transcribe conversations with individuals that may need to be referred to in a report or compiled/ archived.

On the other hand, if you’re an author, the Plaud Note could be used for dictating storylines or interviewing subjects for biographies.

As mentioned earlier, students could benefit from the summarising feature however, having discussed this with friends, a common view was shared that it kind of takes away the benefit of having an enthusiastic teacher heading the class. Why spend thousands on course fees and hours in class if the lessons can be digitally summarised into bite-size notes? Some would say the argument about technology “dumbing down” humans in this way, is quite strong.

Verdict

Despite my initial struggles with the Plaud Note, I feel that it represents (albeit in a small way) a stepping stone in the advancement of society. Technology is constantly being developed to make our lives easier. The Plaud Note may not appeal to Joe or Jolene Bloggs and in my opinion, it isn’t without flaws. The sleeve is a case in point. It’s way too snug for my liking. Unless you have long finger nails or talons, extracting the device from the sleeve is an unenviable task. One may as well be wearing boxing gloves. Additionally, there are indeed some apps available for smartphones that offer transcription, summarising and mind map generating. Whether they do the job as efficiently as the Plaud Note is a discussion for another day.

Where to buy and cost

The Plaud Note is available to buy from www.plaud.ai and amazon.com with prices starting at $159 USD.