PLAUD NOTE with ChatGPT records, transcribes and summarizes for you. TOP for productivity
Nowadays we hear about artificial intelligence, ChatGPT etc. on a daily basis, but we often have no idea what all this means and above all what benefits it can bring to our daily lives. For example, modern AI puts us in a position to have real personal assistants available that can reliably record all important conversations, but also transcribe and summarize them, a brilliant and fundamental solution for writers, journalists, students but also ordinary users who could exploit this potential for work meetings or simply to take notes automatically. Among the products on the market that offer these features we find Plaud Note, a voice recorder powered by ChatGPT.
On offer on Amazon
As anticipated, Plaud Note's mission is to simplify our lives. We can use it to transcribe interviews, transform what is said in work meetings, into usable notes to share, ditto for university student lessons, where the only fundamental parameter is to own a smartphone. Of course, there are native recording apps on our device that already allow us to do something similar, but often the transcription is incorrect in some terms.
The Plaud Note is a slim device, only 3mm thick, so extremely compact and portable, made entirely of metal, no bigger than a credit card and poco more often. It has a classy and elegant look and has excellent build quality. The grooved front and smooth back make it pleasant to touch, a pleasure to look at as well, being able to choose between three different colors: black, silver and starlight.
Although it can fit inside a traditional wallet (Height: 85,6 mm Width: 54,1 mm Thickness: 2,97 mm Weight: 30 g), it is advisable to use the magnetic case provided, also due to its compatibility with MagSafe, a technology now widely adopted even on Android devices. This system means that you can record phone calls or conversations in general, simply by anchoring your Plaud Note to the magnetic MagSafe attachment of your cover or if you have an iPhone (from version 12 and up) directly on the phone. I will start by saying that I do not want to go into the merits of whether recording calls is legal or permitted, so I will not do so and I will not delve into this topic.
Some might think that this is just a simple and banal recorder, but that is not the case. It is an all-in-one AI recording assistant that records, transcribes and summarizes all our conversations by transferring the content of the recordings to the chatGPT API, through an app that will summarize them by also creating very useful bullet points. (FREE STARTER PLAN: – Transcription for 300 minutes per month – ChatGPT4o Transcription and Summary – Multiple Summary Themes – Mind Maps – Audio Transcription Alignment – Share and Export Transcription and Summary)
To use Plaud Note, simply select your preferred recording mode, phone call or voice notes, by holding down the appropriate button. A light indicates that the device is recording. If you leave the device inside its case attached to the back of your phone, you don't have to worry about the quality and clarity of the recording because Plaud Note's built-in microphones are decidedly high-level, in fact they are also equipped with ambient noise cancellation technology. Of course, for voice notes, you can also use the gadget placed on a table and/or not attached to your phone.
At this point, just open the companion app and once you've finished your work, Plaud Note will transfer the recording to your phone. Now you'll have the transcription of the conversation and also the summary, in a few moments, as well as a concept map. If you're a basic "standard" user, the free starter plan included in the purchase of Plaud Note will be enough, which offers 300 minutes of transcription and summary every month, performed with GPT-4o.
For more professional users, there are paid subscription plans with more transcription minutes and extra features such as labels for each speaker and more advanced templates for your summaries and much more. In any case, the AI gadget has 64 GB of storage space and the battery lasts up to 60 days in standby (400mAh Battery, 2h Charging Time, 30 hours Continuous Recording, 60 days Standby). The results of the work done by the Plaud Note are excellent, although I admit that in some cases I found some small transcription errors and had to fix them manually. The transcription can then be edited on a laptop for greater convenience and practicality.
One note, not so much on the operation but on the construction, is that the product fits perfectly into the MagSafe compatible case, so to get it out you need practice, fiddling a bit for example by inserting your nail under the switch for recording calls to get it out. Another problem is the charging cable, which is custom made so if you break or lose it you don't have a spare on the fly. I understand that Plaud Note being so thin does not allow a Type-C input but it is right to point out this possible and future problem. Instead of positive, we find that the product can be used with both iOS and Android systems and that through the Plaud cloud we can find the notes and transcriptions, synchronized on both devices.
It is right to make 3 considerations
- The recording quality of the Plaud Note is no better than that offered by the iPhone Voice Memos app. Only in large environments, such as a conference room, does Plaud Note perform slightly better.
- what Plaud Note allows, that is, transcribing audio recordings, is possible even without using the gadget itself, but importing generic audio into ChatGPT is possible, while Plaud Note allows you to import only what is actually recorded by the device and not from other sources (only with a Premium subscription), so in a certain sense you are tied and shielded from the brand's ecosystem.
- the price is not exactly cheap so for standard uses its purchase could even be superfluous since you can do a good part of what the gadget promises at zero cost and without charging constraints or anything else.
On offer on Amazon
Conclusions
The Plaud Note is a wonderfully sleek and incredibly thin device, so light you barely notice it's there. It looks great and works brilliantly. It would have been great if the transcription were instantaneous, but it's fast and effective, so waiting for the transcription and summary is certainly not a chore. Overall, it's a blast.
Can it also be used on the iPad?