Which is the BEST AI note taker? Plaud vs Zoom, Otter and more! — Transcript

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1. 0:00Last time I checked, we're all still
2. 0:01drowning in calls and meetings and it's
3. 0:03so easy to forget what was said by who
4. 0:06and what's going to happen next. So,
5. 0:08I've spent the last few weeks testing a
6. 0:10bunch of ways to fix it including this
7. 0:12little gadget, the Plaud Note, to see if
8. 0:14you should pay for hardware and a
9. 0:16subscription or just use what you
10. 0:19already own.
11. 0:23Rewind a year or so ago and the Plaud
12. 0:24Note was the latest go-to gadget for
13. 0:27capturing calls and meetings, but this
14. 0:29game is moving fast. My iPhone now
15. 0:32records and summarizes calls natively,
16. 0:34whilst Microsoft and Zoom have AI
17. 0:37summaries baked in and there are other
18. 0:39players like Otter automating it all in
19. 0:41the background. So, I wanted to see if
20. 0:43this little physical device still has a
21. 0:45place in a world where software does
22. 0:47most of the heavy lifting, especially
23. 0:49when some of the alternatives are
24. 0:50included with software or devices you
25. 0:53might already have. In this video, I'm
26. 0:54going to run down all the competition
27. 0:56and see if Plaud is still something that
28. 0:57I'd recommend because I do get it. Not
29. 0:59everyone can justify a $160 device plus
30. 1:02a monthly subscription to hear all your
31. 1:05calls, meetings, and thoughts sent back
32. 1:07to you as beautifully summarized notes.
33. 1:10Oh, and this isn't sponsored by Plaud,
34. 1:11by the way. I'm going to tell you about
35. 1:12this video's sponsor in just a bit.
36. 1:14Let's start with a brief recap on how
37. 1:16the Plaud Note works. So, you press this
38. 1:18button to record, you press it to stop,
39. 1:20you sync it to your app, that generates
40. 1:22a transcript. You can then choose a
41. 1:24summary style and export it to your
42. 1:26favorite note-keeping app or just keep
43. 1:28it in Plaud and search using their AI
44. 1:31later on. The battery lasts ages, it
45. 1:32doesn't murder your phone, it's great in
46. 1:34busy rooms, lectures, and especially
47. 1:36when phones are banned or maybe frowned
48. 1:39upon. And yeah, it does have a
49. 1:40subscription, which is optional. You get
50. 1:42300 transcription minutes thrown in
51. 1:45every month when you buy the device. And
52. 1:47of course, most of us hate
53. 1:48subscriptions, but guess what? AI
54. 1:50processing is not free to run. Now,
55. 1:52whether it's worth it depends on what
56. 1:54you want to remember and how much time
57. 1:56it's going to save you each week. Now,
58. 1:58before I get into our first comparison,
59. 2:00what I really wanted to do in this video
60. 2:02was take, say, five different meetings
61. 2:05or interactions and run them through all
62. 2:06the different products we're going to
63. 2:07test today for a super objective test.
64. 2:10Now, that sounds like it should be easy,
65. 2:12but it is in fact pretty impossible due
66. 2:14to the way some of these services work.
67. 2:16So, what we'll do instead is have a few
68. 2:17rounds of testing where I pit Plaud
69. 2:19against its top competitors and see who
70. 2:21comes out on top for each round. Let's
71. 2:24go. First of all, let's take a look at
72. 2:25the obvious competition, which was an
73. 2:26update in the latest iOS, and that lets
74. 2:29you record calls right on your iPhone.
75. 2:31Now, if you're in a call and you hit the
76. 2:33record button, this sends the caller an
77. 2:35audible note to say that the call is
78. 2:37being recorded. And then, to stop
79. 2:38recording, you can just tap that button
80. 2:40or hang up. Your iPhone then
81. 2:42automatically saves call recordings to a
82. 2:45special call recording folder over in
83. 2:47your Notes app. Now, this new feature
84. 2:49does offer a transcription service,
85. 2:51though it's not usually available
86. 2:52straight away. You can see that
87. 2:54transcription by clicking the little
88. 2:55speech bubble icon, which lets you skip
89. 2:57to the audio in the track. You can
90. 2:59search through the transcript and also
91. 3:00get a summary of the call if you've got
92. 3:02Apple Intelligence switched on. Now,
93. 3:04there isn't a choice of the format of
94. 3:05the summary that you get, but based on
95. 3:07my testing, it's relatively accurate.
96. 3:09Sometimes it can get some words wrong,
97. 3:12especially industry jargon or maybe
98. 3:13listening to someone with a more heavy
99. 3:15accent. So, that's the call recording
100. 3:17feature, but you can use pretty much the
101. 3:19same workflow for in-person meetings if
102. 3:21you just put your phone on the table and
103. 3:23hit record in the Voice Memos app.
104. 3:25Android users, I've not forgotten about
105. 3:27you. If you're on a Samsung S series or
106. 3:29Google's latest Pixel devices, you get
107. 3:32this type of thing included on your
108. 3:33phones, too. So, compared to Plaud,
109. 3:35there's already one clear advantage.
110. 3:37It's already on your phone without you
111. 3:39needing to pay anything extra on top of
112. 3:41the cost of your device. And it does
113. 3:43work. In the case of Apple's recording,
114. 3:45it's also private and on your device by
115. 3:47default, so it's really simple and
116. 3:49secure. But in terms of downsides, well,
117. 3:52there are quite a few. Firstly, using
118. 3:53this feature setting me on iPhone
119. 3:55absolutely hammers your phone's battery.
120. 3:58As an example, I recorded a 60-minute
121. 4:00call the other day on my phone, and it
122. 4:01dropped my battery by 25%
123. 4:04on a single call. The Plaud Note, on the
124. 4:06other hand, lets you record around 30
125. 4:08hours straight, so you can keep your
126. 4:10phone battery for when you need it.
127. 4:12Secondly, the transcription on iOS isn't
128. 4:14the best, and it only really works on
129. 4:16one-to-one conversations. There's no
130. 4:18obvious way of separating speakers out
131. 4:20on things like conference calls, and
132. 4:22there's only one kind of summary, which
133. 4:24doesn't really understand any context
134. 4:26that you're working in. Plaud Note, on
135. 4:28the other hand, covers multiple speakers
136. 4:30with ease, and it gives you literally
137. 4:31hundreds of summary formats to choose
138. 4:33from, or you can even make your own.
139. 4:36Plus, you can program in your own
140. 4:37industry terms, so it always understands
141. 4:39the context or any regular abbreviations
142. 4:42that you use. That is not, however, an
143. 4:44excuse to keep saying "circle back."
144. 4:46Finally, if you want to use this feature
145. 4:47on your phone, if you didn't record the
146. 4:49audio using your phone, yeah, that's it.
147. 4:52You can't import other audio into Apple
148. 4:54Notes or Voice Memos to transcribe or
149. 4:56summarize. But, yeah, you guessed it,
150. 4:58with Plaud, you absolutely can. So, it
151. 5:00can kind of work in reverse. If you
152. 5:02recorded a note in your phone app, but
153. 5:04you didn't have your Plaud Note with
154. 5:06you, you can still import the audio into
155. 5:08Plaud, and it'll do its thing. So, round
156. 5:10one, it's an easy one. This one goes to
157. 5:12Plaud. Before we go on, have you ever
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188. 6:14this video. Next, I want to show you a
189. 6:16free alternative to Plaud, which a lot
190. 6:18of people don't know about. Now, if you
191. 6:19have Microsoft Word on your machine, it
192. 6:22actually has a feature to transcribe any
193. 6:24audio file. It's really basic, but yeah,
194. 6:26it's free, you know, if you or your
195. 6:28employer already pay for Microsoft Word.
196. 6:30And that's about the only benefit here
197. 6:32because in order to use this, you will
198. 6:34need access to Microsoft Word, which
199. 6:36requires a subscription these days, and
200. 6:38they've actually just put the price up.
201. 6:41And also, Microsoft Word is famous for
202. 6:43doing stuff like this. Now, you can also
203. 6:45get a summary here as well as a
204. 6:46transcription, but you'll need to use
205. 6:47Microsoft's AI to generate it, and in my
206. 6:50testing, it was very hit and miss in
207. 6:52terms of accuracy. Unpopular opinion,
208. 6:54but I think we should probably just
209. 6:55bring back Clippy. Plaud, on the other
210. 6:57hand, will work in a nice, clean web app
211. 6:59or your phone app, and it'll separate
212. 7:01out speakers and do you a bunch of
213. 7:03different summaries depending on what
214. 7:05you're transcribing, which Word,
215. 7:06unfortunately, just cannot compete with.
216. 7:09Round two goes to Plaud
217. 7:11again. Next up, we've got a real
218. 7:12contender, and that's Otter AI. This is
219. 7:14one of the OGs of the AI recording game
220. 7:17and was probably one of the first auto
221. 7:18transcription tools I ever tried, and
222. 7:21that experience really shows. Otter is
223. 7:23an app that automatically joins your
224. 7:25meetings in Zoom, Google, and Teams, and
225. 7:28then gives you an AI summary in real
226. 7:31time with searchable notes. It even has
227. 7:33built-in agents for different use cases
228. 7:35like sales, recruitment, education, and
229. 7:38media. It also has some AI built in so
230. 7:41that you can ask it questions from any
231. 7:43past conversation or meeting that you've
232. 7:45had. Now, in terms of Otter's advantages
233. 7:47over Plaud, well, there is a free plan
234. 7:49that gives you 300 minutes of
235. 7:50transcription every month. Or, you can
236. 7:53pay a monthly fee for 1,200
237. 7:54transcription minutes, unlimited
238. 7:56storage, and the ability to import your
239. 7:59own audios and video files into Otter.
240. 8:02I'd say the auto transcription is
241. 8:04genuinely excellent, and it has some of
242. 8:06the best search and keywording I've seen
243. 8:09so far. It also lets you join concurrent
244. 8:11meetings if you ever need to be in two
245. 8:13places at once. Plus, while it is
246. 8:15possible to use Plaud in virtual
247. 8:16meetings either by putting your device
248. 8:18next to the speaker or using the Windows
249. 8:20desktop app, it's not easy if you're
250. 8:22mainly using headphones or using a Mac
251. 8:25as the Plaud desktop app isn't available
252. 8:28for Mac users, although I am told it's
253. 8:30on the way. Are there any ways that
254. 8:31Plaud beats Otter? Well, in my view,
255. 8:33Plaud is certainly more optimized for
256. 8:36in-person audio such as meetings and
257. 8:39lectures, conferences, that kind of
258. 8:41thing. If you're a busy professional who
259. 8:42conducts lots of in-person meetings,
260. 8:44Plaud's probably going to work better
261. 8:45for you. It's worth saying you can use
262. 8:48Otter for in-person meetings, too, but
263. 8:50it's a much more complicated workflow
264. 8:52involving an app. There's also the
265. 8:54challenges in terms of different
266. 8:55languages and accents. Plaud supports
267. 8:58over 200 different languages, which
268. 9:00might be really important if you work in
269. 9:02a multilingual team. And again, in my
270. 9:04experience, Plaud generally does a
271. 9:06pretty good job of tracking accents even
272. 9:08from a here across the UK where regional
273. 9:10differences in accent can vary a lot. So
274. 9:13yeah, I'd say this round is more of a
275. 9:14draw, I think, and whichever wins out
276. 9:16for you will kind of depend on what kind
277. 9:18of meetings you tend to have. I think
278. 9:20Otter is still superb for virtual
279. 9:22meetings, but if you work in a hybrid
280. 9:24way, in conferences, cafes, and
281. 9:27in-person conversations on the go, that
282. 9:30press and forget workflow from Plaud is
283. 9:32probably going to be much easier. Okay,
284. 9:33so we're on to our final round, and I
285. 9:35wanted to group together the built-in
286. 9:36note takers from Zoom, Google Meet, and
287. 9:39the complete horror show that is
288. 9:41Microsoft Teams. Now, in terms of pros
289. 9:43with these ones, well, there's no extra
290. 9:45app. You just fire it up when the
291. 9:47meeting starts and forget about it. You
292. 9:49also get things like auto notes for the
293. 9:50whole team joining the call, which can
294. 9:52definitely save time in terms of
295. 9:54follow-up. And also, from a data privacy
296. 9:56perspective, I think this is likely to
297. 9:57suit your compliance setups if you're
298. 9:59already using them within an
299. 10:00organization as it'll probably have been
300. 10:02set up that way when your IT department
301. 10:05configured it all. Now, in terms of
302. 10:06downsides, well, quality definitely
303. 10:09varies here. Summaries can be a bit
304. 10:10vague at best or at worst completely
305. 10:13inaccurate. They're also platform
306. 10:15locked, so they will work inside a
307. 10:16Google Meet session or Zoom or Teams
308. 10:19call, but pretty useless if you're also
309. 10:21taking phone calls, WhatsApp calls, or
310. 10:23in-person sessions. And if, like me,
311. 10:25you're a solo business, there are often
312. 10:27hidden paid tiers here for things like
313. 10:29storage, and they can really add up over
314. 10:31time. So, yeah, I think these options
315. 10:33can be really great if you spend all day
316. 10:35in one of these app ecosystems.
317. 10:37Otherwise, I think Plaud or Otter is
318. 10:39just more flexible all round. Yeah, so
319. 10:42round four
320. 10:43goes to Plaud.
321. 10:45So, after testing out a number of
322. 10:46alternatives, all things considered, I
323. 10:48think there is still a case to be made
324. 10:51for having a physical recording device
325. 10:53that records and summarizes your
326. 10:55meetings and calls. I've got a couple of
327. 10:57other things that I need to tell you
328. 10:58about though. First of all, a point on
329. 11:00accessibility and inclusion. I think for
330. 11:02folk with memory issues, visual
331. 11:04impairments, ADHD, or multilingual
332. 11:08workspaces, accurate recordings and
333. 11:10action item summaries are not a luxury.
334. 11:13They represent independence. And this is
335. 11:15where reliable capture and clear
336. 11:17intelligent summaries matter way more
337. 11:19than just saving a fiver every month on
338. 11:22another subscription. Secondly, a note
339. 11:24on data security and privacy. I think if
340. 11:26you're recording any kind of
341. 11:28conversation, whether it's a deeply
342. 11:30personal one or an everyday business
343. 11:31meeting, you should have an eye on where
344. 11:34that data is going. I used to run a
345. 11:35business involved in collecting personal
346. 11:37data, so I know quite a bit about
347. 11:39various privacy standards. And I've been
348. 11:41really pleased to see Plaud continuing
349. 11:43to strengthen its approach here. They've
350. 11:44just added two ISO certifications to
351. 11:46their lineup alongside GDPR, SOC 2, and
352. 11:50HIPAA. I do know from experience how
353. 11:53much work will have to go on in the
354. 11:54background to get those certifications,
355. 11:56and yeah, it is a lot. So, in
356. 11:58conclusion, this is my verdict on
357. 12:00everything I've experienced whilst
358. 12:01making this video. I think if you live
359. 12:03in Zoom or Teams all day, use the
360. 12:06built-in apps, or maybe something like
361. 12:07Otter. I reckon if you're all about
362. 12:09sticking to a tight budget, or you're a
363. 12:11student maybe, use the free workflows
364. 12:13that I showed. And if you don't mind
365. 12:15some additional time spent in getting
366. 12:16everything set up exactly the way you
367. 12:18want it across multiple platforms, and
368. 12:21you're happy to deal with some quirks
369. 12:23along the way, they can absolutely be
370. 12:26good enough. If you're more of a hybrid
371. 12:27meeting attendee, I'm talking phone
372. 12:30calls with in-person and random rooms
373. 12:33with occasional virtual meetings thrown
374. 12:34in, and you want something that you can
375. 12:36rely on with the press of a button, I do
376. 12:38think that Plaud still earns its place
377. 12:41in your setup. If you want to grab one
378. 12:42of these for yourself, there's a link
379. 12:44and a discount code in the description,
380. 12:46or you can scan this code up here.
381. 12:48Meanwhile, if you're interested to know
382. 12:49more about how the Plaud Note Pro works
383. 12:51differently to the regular Plaud Note,
384. 12:53check out my comparison video. It's just
385. 12:55over here.
386. 12:56See you next time.