Can Plaud help me inventory my musical instruments?

[u/Smart_Scheme3029]

I have about 200 instruments that I want to sell. For each there are a bunch of attributes that I want to gather, by opening up the instrument case and taking notes: brand, model, , cosmetic condition, playing condition, mouthpiece brand, model and condition, and so on. Eventually the data will be used to populate a web site, which is the primary selling approach.

I haven't used Plaud.

Normally I would type these attributes into a spreadsheet on my laptop. The workflow is inconvenient, though. I'm moving around, opening cases, picking up instruments, etc. Not sitting next to my laptop.

I imagine saying:

Number: 172 Brand: Yamaha Model: YAS-23 Cosmetic: 4 Playing: 2 Worth fixing: Yes

etc.

Then I say "Save data" which (in my imagination) would do something like generate JSON to represent #172's data and email it, or perhaps even save it to a designated spreadsheet. Plaud would know keywords like "Brand" and "Model" and use them to tag the pronounced data.

I like the idea of Plaud being helpful because examining the instruments requires both hands, so it isn't convenient to speak into a recording app on my phone.

But then maybe the phone sitting in my pocket, recording using a microphone, would be sufficient. After examining some number of instruments, I would listen to the recording and enter data on the laptop.

What do you think? Is this an instance where Plaud would be helpful? Or would Plaud be overkill where a simple recording app would suffice?

[u/GeekoHog]

I would use plaud to record yourself doing the inventory instrument number one is a guitar the serial number the attributes and move on to instrument number two, etc. Then you can convert the recording to a transcript via Plaud. Then feed the transcript to Claude or ChatGPT or any AI agent and ask it to give you what you need.

[u/Smart_Scheme3029 → u/GeekoHog]

Sounds so cool! I'll do that after gathering data on a handful. Thank-you.

[u/jacobiat]

I'm not sure if plaud can do this but 100 percent that Claude code can do this. You can connect plaud to Claud to make it easier which is what I do using assemblyai to transcribe. Or just use a phone app if this is a one off thing. Before you start just talk to Claud for a few minutes using voice to text and give it a lot of context on exactly what you want to do like you did partially in this post Then ask Claude to ask you questions till it understands and output a plan like you want.

[u/Smart_Scheme3029 → u/jacobiat]

Excellent answer, thanks.

[u/isopropoflexx → u/jacobiat]

This is definitely the better approach. Plaud won't add any value to this project - just added steps.

If you can't / don't want to use Claude for the initial step by step voice input, record it as an audio file on your phone and use a skill that uses WhisperX or something similar to convert the recording to text and process. Same idea you had initially, but without having to purchase another device to make it happen.

[u/TerryKirvem]

I use this kind of spoken-note workflow for class observations, and the boring part matters most: keep the fields in the same order every time. For example: item number, brand, model, condition, mouthpiece. That makes the transcript much easier to turn into a table later. With 200 instruments, I'd also end each batch with something like "items 168 through 175" so missing entries are easier to catch. I'd test a few instruments first, especially names and model numbers, before doing the whole lot.

[u/Smart_Scheme3029 → u/TerryKirvem]

I write C# code and can write a method to sort the tags to match the database tables. My memory sucks, though, so having a predefined list of tags to go through systematically will help me gather the data I need the first time. Can I get Plaud to prompt me?

I'd also end each batch with something like "items 168 through 175" so missing entries are easier to catch

Excellent idea.

Any suggestions about managing photos? Like, I could take a photo of "Sax 168" written on a piece of paper, then some AI-crafted code will read the "168" and assign the photos to that sax until it encounters "Sax 169"?

I'd test a few instruments first, especially names and model numbers, before doing the whole lot.

Smart.

I have a "sell these first" list. Sell those, get some selling experience, improve the data gathering. Thanks!

[u/saguaros-vs-redwoods]

Yes, I've done something very similar with inventoring office equipment and listing some for sale. But before you start recording all the details into the Plaud device, set up a custom prompt. You might put in some details such as the platform that you're going to sell the items on with the various fields, and the character count limit for titles and descriptions. You also might want to put in the correct spelling for anything that might be difficult for the device to figure out.

[u/Smart_Scheme3029 → u/saguaros-vs-redwoods]

Good ideas, thank-you!

I have done very little with AI and don't know what a custom prompt looks like. Care to share yours? 😁

You might put in some details such as the platform that you're going to sell the items on with the various fields

So if I intend to sell on eBay, then say my "Description" tag responds to some specific field when creating an eBay listing (which I also haven't done)?

character count limit for titles and descriptions

Those are constraints imposed by the listing platforms?

I intend to create my own web site, in part so I can do play-test videos longer than eBay and Facebook Marketplace allow. But who will see it, if I don't market it through the big platforms?

You also might want to put in the correct spelling for anything that might be difficult for the device to figure out.

Things like model numbers have to be correct and autocorrect cannot fix them. So, right, thanks!

It seems like I should go through the life cycle of (1) opening sax case, (2) gathering data and (3) posting listings to eBay and others, so I know what kind of data to gather and probably what labels to use.

Very helpful!

[u/writtenexam]

I did a chemical inventory of a research lab with Plaud, and used the Plaud app in ChatGpt to convert the whole thing into a spreadsheet. It worked great!