Plaud updates the NotePin with a button

Plaud has updated its compact NotePin AI recorder. The new NotePin S is almost identical to the original, except for one major difference: a button. It’s joined by a new Plaud Desktop app for recording audio in online meetings, which is free to owners of any Plaud Note or NotePin.

The NotePin S has the same FitBit-esque design as the 2024 original and ships with a lanyard, wristband, clip, and magnetic pin, so you can wear it just about any way you please — 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 the NotePin, it records audio and generates transcriptions and summaries, whether those are meeting notes, action points, or reminders.

But now it has a button. Whereas the first NotePin used haptic controls, relying on a long squeeze to start recording, with a short buzz to let you know it worked, the S switches to something simpler. A long press of the button starts recording, a short tap adds highlight markers. Plaud’s explanation for the change is simple: buttons are less ambiguous, so you’ll always know you’ve successfully pressed it and started recording, whereas original NotePin users complained they sometimes failed to record because they hadn’t squeezed just right.

AI recorders like this live or die by ease of use, so removing a little friction gives Plaud better odds of survival.

Alongside the NotePin S, Plaud is launching a new Mac and PC application for recording the audio from online meetings. Plaud Desktop runs in the background and activates whenever it detects calls from apps including Zoom, Meet, and Teams, recording both 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 from Plaud’s line of hardware recorders, with the same models used for transcription and generation, creating a “seamless” library of audio from your meetings, both online and off.

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, which Plaud says will now be phased out.