Plaud Desktop brings its powerful AI transcription tool to your PC or Mac – and it's free

Plaud AI isn’t finished disrupting the notetaking market. Its Note and Pin devices have shown the advantages of having a dedicated device over a simple phone app, but now it’s coming for the laptop and desktop users. Plaud Desktop is an app that works for both PC and Mac, and brings that same advanced transcription and summary services to your home or work machine.

The majority of video calls take place on computers rather than phones. Whether you use Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack or one of the many other video apps for your meetings, the issues remain the same – you need to make notes on the meetings.

Various AI assistants can be set up to join your meetings as a virtual notetaker, and most now do a decent job of transcribing and summarising what was said. Where Plaud AI has stood out in the past is that it offers a more extensive summary, transcribing and translating 112 languages, and also offering an interactive search that allows you to ask natural questions about the meeting to find specific info.

The power of Plaud AI on your desktop

Plaud Desktop promises a bot-free experience, without having to have virtual assistants join your meeting, and can automatically detect when a meeting starts, so you don’t need to remember to start the recording. This can be set according to your preference, with the option to either prompt you to start recording or record manually if you prefer.

The automatic recording currently works with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, and Slack, with more apps expected to be added in the future. The recording automatically generates a transcript, audio file and summary, saved to your Plaud account. It also allows you to highlight sections of audio as you go, add written context to sections with your own notes and capture screengrabs for reference.

While the Plaud Note and Pin benefit from being standalone devices, Plaud Desktop benefits from being fully integrated, so you can build a full picture of your meeting from your desktop, without having to worry about secondary recorders.

Perhaps the best thing about Plaud Desktop, though, is that it’s completely free for existing Plaud subscribers. So if you already use a Plaud Note or Pin device, you can download Plaud Desktop for free.

Plaud NotePin S

The Plaud NotePin is the more casual of the company’s two styles of recording devices, designed to be worn rather than attached to your phone or placed on a meeting table like the Plaud Note or Note Pro devices. The new NotePin S expands on the former device to offer increased battery life, better audio quality and easier recording functions.

It’s ultralightweight, weighing just 17.4g (0.61oz) or 23.2 (0.82oz) with the magnetic pin attachment. It can also be worn using a clip, a lanyard or with a wrist strap. The device comes in a choice of three colours (purple, black and silver) and works with Apple Find My, so you can always find it.

For audio, the NotePin S features dual microphones to capture voices up to 9.8 feet away as well as your own. It is capable of recording continuously for up to 20 hours, and has 40 days of standby power when not in use.

On board storage is 64GB, for days' worth of audio, and it quickly syncs to your phone and the Plaud cloud to transfer your recording either by Bluetooth or a local WiFi connection. As with all other Plaud devices, the data remains encrypted and secure, with you in control of how it is saved and managed.

The new Plaud Note S is priced at $179 (£133) and is available now.