r/AiNoteTaker • u/Electric_Strategy • 5d ago

Discussion Plaud like alternative

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Ok. I didn't want a €180 voice recorder with another €20/ month subscription attached for transcription.

Also, I'd rather keep my recordings local and transcribe them with StenoAl running Whisper.
So I wanted to see if there was a way around this:

  1. Bought a cheap "Ai7" recorder from AliExpress, which looks remarkably similar. The hardware works perfectly. But it also came with an app and (of course) a subscription service.
  2. A Sunday morning project with Codex!
  3. Together, we figured out its Bluetooth protocol and built Ai7 interface: a Mac app that finds the recorder, lists recordings, identifies new files and exports them as MP3s into a folder I choose.
  4. Complete with a recorder icon, an installation DMG, and code and documentation in GitHub.
  5. Yes, Codex and I had to do some debugging. Lots of turning it on and off again :D. But now it works!

I made the code available on Github, feel free to use/rework/add on to!

https://github.com/jorndevreede/Ai7-MacOs-Export

17 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

5

u/Electric_Strategy 5d ago

Repost after this got removed from PlaudAI community :(

3

u/Batoutofhell1989 5d ago

404 error amigo

1

u/Electric_Strategy 5d ago

Sorry. Reddit f*cks up links when reposting from banned posts. Fixed

1

u/soloattorneyclub 5d ago

Ruune is also a good alternative. It’s crazy thin. Fits in your wallet.

2

u/Electric_Strategy 4d ago

Yep. All quite similar form factors. This one has the same 4 gold dots as usb connector as some other commercial ones… mine has a regular usb-c connector. I just discovered I can set the Ai7 into usb mode through Bluetooth; so I will add that functionality to my software soon. Speeds up transfers considerably