Cyber Monday is in full swing, with thousands of high-tech gadgets on offer at discounted prices and retailers ranging from Amazon and Debenhams through to Oodie and Lovehoney doing everything they can to tempt you to bag one last bargain. But one product stands out for its potential to revolutionise note-taking - the Plaud Note. This credit card-sized voice recorder might look unassuming and you may never have heard of it, but having tried it I think it's a game-changer for anyone who regularly takes notes.
Whether you're a student struggling to keep your lecture notes organised or someone who finds your mind wandering during meetings, it's a revolutionary piece of kit. It saves hours of messing about and collating your notes once sessions are over.
When I first got my hands on it, The Note was priced at £149. But for Cyber Monday it's been reduced to a more budget-friendly £119, reports MyLondon. However, even at the original price, I was so pleased with it that I believe it was worth the money. It's a total game changer for both work and personal use.
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The Note records meetings, seminars and events, both in person and virtually, and can even be attached to your device to record phone calls. But the real magic happens after you hit 'stop. ' The Note doesn't just transcribe audio; it summarises the recording into bullet-pointed information, saving hours of sifting through recordings and transcribing important bits.
Even compared to systems like Otter.ai, which auto-transcribes audio files, the Note offers a significant time-saving advantage and is perfect for students or anyone who has to take notes of meetings or record interviews for work. The Note gathers relevant information in a way that completely astounded me when I first saw it. Even details mentioned at different times but relating to the same themes were compiled in a manner that elevated my note-taking skills to new heights.
Now, granted, with ample time and effort and my trusty notepad and four-colour pen, I could have transformed handwritten notes in a similar fashion. But what The Note does with all the information it collects is beyond all my abilities. It takes your notes and constructs a printable mind map that incorporates everything that's been discussed and the topics touched on in a way that will thrill visual learners and which I, with my frankly mediocre Powerpoint skills, could only ever dream of creating.
I've utilised it for interviews, training sessions and lectures, and I've been blown away by the quality of the summaries it's produced. It's particularly useful when dealing with complex or dry topics as you can refer back to the audio and it helps break down information into more digestible chunks.
This compact powerhouse comes with 64Gb storage - enough for 480 hours of audio. You also have the option to store up to 10,000 minutes on the Plaud cloud, and you can share any stored content with colleagues on group projects.
However, for me, the AI-powered transcription and summary feature elevates The Note and justifies the extra cost. While Amazon reviews were largely positive, it wasn't until I tried it myself that I realised its potential - hence why the images in this review are from a recent training session I attended.
One thing to remember is that when you buy one, it comes with 300 minutes per month for transcription and summary. If you require more, you can either buy additional bundles of minutes or pay £80 for an annual subscription.
While this does increase the overall cost slightly, for heavy users, it's a worthwhile investment. Considering my Otter.ai subscription was similarly priced, I'd deem it a fair swap if I was using it extensively. That being said, so far, 300 minutes a month has been more than sufficient for my needs.
Of course, there are plenty of other dictaphone-style gadgets and apps available out there, some without any need for additional bolt ons and many with solid reviews like The Note's 4.4 out of 5-star Amazon rating. The 64Gb Nekside Dictaphone is now just £28.79 on Amazon with an additional 15% off code usable at checkout for a limited time, meanwhile Argos offers a £39.99 Philips version that can be click and collected immediately.