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Cloud has updated its built-in NotePin AI recorder. The new NotePin S is almost identical to the original, except for one major difference: the button. It’s joined by the new Plaud Desktop app for recording audio in online meetings, which is free for owners of any Plaud Note or NotePin.
The NotePin S has the same FitBit-esque design as the NotePin S 2024 original It comes with a lanyard, wristband, clasp, and magnetic pin, so you can wear it any way you want – now all included in the box, whereas before the lanyard and wristband were sold separately.
It’s about the same size as the NotePin, comes in the same colors (black, purple, or silver), offers similar battery life, and still supports Apple Find My. Like NotePin, it records audio and creates transcripts and summaries, whether those are meeting notes, action points, or reminders.
But now he has a button. Whereas the first NotePin used tactile controls, relying on a long press to start recording, with a short buzz to let you know it was working, the S switches to something much simpler. A long press of the button starts recording, and a short press adds highlights. Plaud’s explanation for the change is simple: the buttons are less ambiguous, so you’ll always know you’ve successfully pressed them and started recording, whereas original NotePin users complained that they sometimes failed to record because they didn’t press them correctly.
AI recorders like this live or die by ease of use, so removing a little friction gives Plaud a better chance of survival.
Along with NotePin S, Plaud is launching a new app for Mac and PC to record audio from online meetings. Plaud Desktop runs in the background and is activated when it detects calls from apps including Zoom, Meet, and Teams, and records system audio and from your microphone. You can set it to either record meetings automatically or require manual activation, and unlike some alternatives, it doesn’t create a bot that joins the call with you.
Recordings and notes are synced with those in Plaud’s suite of hardware recorders, with the same templates used for transcription and generation, creating a “seamless” audio library of your meetings, both online and offline.
Plaud Desktop is available now and is free to anyone who already owns a Plaud Note or NotePin device. The new NotePin S is also available today for $179 — $20 more than the original version, which Blood says will now be phased out.