Product Thinking: Plaud Note
Product Thinking is a series of case studies/posts about my product thinking process. These are products that I admire or would improve.
I know I’ve very frequently said in the past I have been hugely skeptical regarding AI. I have even wrote a blog post about a failed AI product, the Humane AI Pin, and my views on AI haven’t changed.
But it seems that companies have found an area where AI could be implemented; voice recording.
There are plenty of use cases for voice recording, such as:
- A student who wants to record a lecture.
- A journalist who wants to record interviews.
- Meetings that are held in person.
- A phone call for a job interview.
- A training session.
But then comes the challenge of transcribing the audio into usable text. This is a long and tedious process if done manually, especially if the audio recording is over an hour. Without the text transcribed, you can’t search it, you can’t make use of the text in other applications such as creating flow charts in Miro.
This is a genuine problem that AI could solve, if it could transcribe the audio into usable text automatically, then this would save time in the use cases I described above.
That’s where the product, Plaud Note, comes in. In this edition of Product Thinking, I want to explain why I admire this product, and also the issues that I have with this product. Maybe it could be
Why I admire this product
Mind maps and templates
This is a good example of an undeserved need, being able to take a recording and generate a mind map based on the recording is a great feature in organising data. It’s something that I honestly haven’t thought of myself. Visualisations are something that I’ve used in the past to help me learn a topic.
Enhanced transcriber features
Plaud Note offers the following features when it comes to transcribing audio:
Speaker labels
If you’re recording a meeting where there are multiple people talking, it’s good to know who said what if you’re reviewing what was discussed.
Auto-paragraphing
Nobody enjoys reading a wall of text, paragraphs are important in improving readability. Plaud Note offers auto-paragraphing to make scribing and formatting seamless.
Multi-language support
Plaud Note supports 112 languages, making the product compatible with the global market.
Free plan
Although there is a paid subscription plan, which includes features such as custom templates, there is a free plan that gives you enough to see what the possibilities of the product are. I think it’s pretty generous, especially if you are looking at recording lectures.
Slim and light design
If you’re recording multiple conversations in a day, then having something that can fit into your bag easily and isn’t cumbersome is key. With the Plaud Note being 30g and 0.117 inches, it looks like a credit card which makes it extremely portable.
Issues that I have with this product
On privacy
Of course, given that this product records everything that is said when it’s active, privacy is something that needs to be discussed and is my biggest issue I have with this product.
If you’re recording conversations you have with people, their privacy must be respected and permission to record must be obtained. With just one press of a button and Plaud Note can record everything it hears can be slightly worrying, especially if it picks up on background noise if you happen to be having a conversation in a cafe for example.
Becca Farasace recently looked at a similar product called Bee and spoke about privacy regarding these sorts of devices.
Support and updates
At some point, support for this product will cease, and then comes the question; what do you do with your notes and recordings? Can be they be exported to a different service or downloaded to be stored locally?
This could be seen as an argument for using traditional voice recorders, as you are in control of where you store your recordings and aren’t tied to a provider.
What happened with the Humane AI Pin and it’s sudden closure is something that could easily happen again with other products.
Cost
The Plaud Note costs £149.90 (at this time of writing) which is quite steep for a voice recorder. There are plenty of voice recorders available at a much lower price point. Granted, the Plaud Note offers more features with the use of AI, but if you’re in the market for just a voice recorder, cheaper options are available.
Also, are customers prepared to pay for yet another subscription for something?
Wrap up
An AI powered voice recorder is something that I genuinely see a product-market fit for. There are clear benefits and is an improvement against existing products in this field. But the concerns I have around privacy still bug me.
Maybe in time this will be improved, but for now, the Plaud Note is a product that I admire for it’s goals.
