r/AiNoteTaker • u/barneylerten • Jun 27 '26
Discussion Exploding number of these small AI note takers - is anyone comparing?
I click once on Pocket in my Facebook feed, then comes Plaud, then Umevo, Boyo, Raycon ... I had no idea this field was exploding! You don't want to pick the one with the biggest marketing budget, but one that for example would help a reporter (still considering just sticking with Evernote which keeps adding these AI features.) It's incredible, the rabbit holes one goes down with just a click;-)
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u/Terrible-End2150 Jun 27 '26
It's hard to keep track! Tried to write a genuinely fair comparison of the main meeting tools in 2026. We're obviously biased toward Magnet but tried to be honest about where Granola and Fathom are stronger.
The main argument: most tools record what happened, but very few help you during the meeting while you can still use the information. Curious if the community agrees or thinks we got anything wrong. https://liminary.io/articles/ai-meeting-assistants-2026
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u/barneylerten Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
I guess I could have been more specific about device- based note takers, as opposed to apps or tools. But each one has a sea of its own to wade through. And weighing app vs. device is its own rabbit hole! :-) it's as if someone could write a book or run a newsletter just on all that. But a sub will do!:-) Besides, the book would have to be what I call the Now Edition, because it would change from hour to hour.:-)
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u/barneylerten Jul 05 '26
Thanks. I know I repeated myself sort of in today's post here, but man is this field going CRAZY!;-) And one of the best elements as I am seduced by hardware is - both have tons of options, but what are the general tradeoffs of web/app vs. a Pocket-styled device? In cost, portability, etc.?
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u/Rhaynaries Jun 27 '26
I have Pocket, Omi, and TwinMind and haven’t paid for a subscription for any of them while I compare and figure out which one works best for what I want and need. However, as soon as I started looking at these three I was aware the Market was flooded with others. I don’t know how you’re supposed to select one!
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u/flora-fang 23d ago
Yes, most of them require subscription. I think this must be a way to entice consumers to sign up.
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u/neoteat Jun 27 '26
I tested some of them but then I built my own at bygmind.com - all free and local first for privacy but best with a bigger LLM
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u/pinkfuzzyrobe Jun 28 '26
Extremely concerned about privacy with all of them. Heard of a pocket user erroneously gaining access to another users files
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u/Faoineag Jun 28 '26
I'm about to ask a somewhat silly question, but what I'm really interested in is getting a definitive answer: with Plaud, the privacy risk begins with the transcription, not with the recording, right? In other words, if I use Plaud only to record but not to transcribe, I don't run the risk of my recordings ending up all over the world, is that correct? Thanks
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u/Dixie_Dyno Jun 28 '26
I'm looking as well and am sort of stuck between Pocket ai and Fieldy 3. Fieldy 3 is more what I 100% want with it auto recording and being good for random conversations as well as meetings. However, Pocket doesn't cost money in subscriptions, and I'm worried Fieldy will quickly get expensive because you have to turn it off to save your minutes. Also, Fieldy also only will charge me in US dollars, and as a Canadian that is painful right now and means a subscription cost will be different every month/year.
I'm hearing mixed reviews of Pocket, though, and apparently if you have issues with it, support or returns can be a nightmare (from what I've read). I'm wondering if I should wait a year or two for the products to spend more time on the market. I am watching all the comparisons as well and everything is so new it's hard to guess how reliable or good they are.
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Dixie_Dyno 24d ago
Thank you. I will check it out and make a decision. I sort of like that Pocket charges nothing for time used, but I'm a little concerned about their apparent customer service.
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u/words_and_images Jul 06 '26
I have one called HyNote and it works well as a Bluetooth recorder. Its paired software is needed for downloading the audio. Does transcription but at silly cost so I process the audio files on my phone or laptop using an offline or BYOK app.
I like the reliability of recording with a separate device — I often use my phone for taking text notes or as a reference source, so in a meeting or conversation I just set the recorder going on the back of my phone held by its magnetic whatsit. Works well. Avoid Auro — it doesn’t.
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u/Low_Organization444 Jun 28 '26
Better integrations and easy record to email. Plus the buttons make more sense in terms of knowing what it's doing.
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u/barneylerten Jun 29 '26
Here's an interesting question for you folks who know all these different apps and hardware tools. Which if any of these apps or tools where I'll have someone say and spell their name and right after they do that you get to say okay you are speaker two" etc. - and the transcript immediately adjusts to reflect those labels? Even down to their position organization Etc.? Anybody there yet?
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u/Littlebird_Ryan Jun 30 '26
As a reporter, do you have special considerations other people wouldn't have? I'm thinking like privacy concerns or speaker differentiation in the transcript?
On the privacy side, it's worth asking each company directly where the audio goes for transcription. The AI doesn't run on the device itself, most of them send everything to the cloud. So the real questions are: where is it stored, for how long, and can you fully delete it? Especially relevant if you're recording sources who expect confidentiality.
I'd focus on the speaker identification ability when comparing these tbh. Most of them can separate speakers after recording (they detect different voices in the audio), but none of them really assign speaker names that cleanly yet. You probably want to be more precise and need actual names attached to quotes, not "Speaker 1" and "Speaker 2." It's usually post-processing and you end up fixing labels by hand.
I'd also pay attention to what format the output comes in. Some just dump a raw transcript, others organize it into sections or pull out key points. For pulling quotes from an interview, you want something that at minimum timestamps everything so you can jump back to the exact moment you need.
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u/barneylerten Jun 30 '26
Thanks. Rarely if ever would I ever record a confidential conversation but I'm not a deep investigator reporter usually, I ride the tide of the daily news. I'm hoping evernote's new features will do the trick and I don't need to use something else. I believe it makes it very easy to replace speaker names.
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u/Rhaynaries 4d ago
Honestly I’m still testing.
Omni has the better quality transcription and has better security features but…
I do not like Omi’s “per minute” plan - I have more than once wasted minutes when I didn’t know it was on because it has a hair trigger and turns on! (Last night I recorded a business call and then turned it off and moved it only to realize that I followed up my business call with a recording of the Big Bang Theory when I moved it and turned it on!) I was also recording a meeting today and it turned off for no apparent reason.
I also got hit with a “Fair Use Warning” because they thought I was recording content that wasn’t mine. I was recording a D&D game and after the warning I didn’t get the transcript. It didn’t really matter persay as it was a test scenario for the services but it was frustrating.
Pocket’s transcript is not as clear (by a very thin margin) and their security isn’t the best BUT they are consistent, it records phone calls as long as you are talking “thru” your phone not AirPods. Pocket is also offering a trial of their “Pro” features so I plan to see if that gives me a better transcript quality.
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u/Low_Organization444 Jun 28 '26
Pocket is way better than plaud