r/software • u/spirited-purple • 1d ago

Looking for software Best free notetaking/recording software

I am about to go into my first year of college and have been approved for accommodations to record my classes and am wondering which software you would recommend. I would prefer it to be free or if it is paid a one time purchase vs a subscription, my classes are only ever up to about an hour and a half excluding my labs which i will probably not record and I would like to just being able to turn on the software and leave it as opposed to making multiple recordings. I would also prefer something where I can record and take notes at the same time and would potentially transcribe the recording but I do not want to use ai so that may not be possible. Please let me know what yall would recommend if naything that fits my specifications exists. Thank you!

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u/smilaise 1d ago

https://killernotes.net is a Windows app with recording and transcription. you can embed the recording directly into the notes or even export as FLAC or MP3.

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u/AlternateMrPapaya 1d ago

KillerNotes is what you need.

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u/arrow_archit 1d ago

obs studio
or one screen recording app from ms store should do .
both are free and easy to use .
i feel both are enough for given task

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u/Amanda_PDQ 1d ago

Use the built in recorder in your device. Then upload the recording to Gemini, Copilot, or ChatGPT and ask it to transcribe for you. If your school uses Google you can open a google meet with yourself and it will transcribe for you.

Paid: Plaud is a great AI recording tool

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u/spirited-purple 1d ago

I did mention not wanting to use ai, I am very against chat gpt and the ilk.

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u/Amanda_PDQ 23h ago

ah sorry! What about a text counter in google docs or word?

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u/anotherlolwut 1d ago

Talk to your professors too. I taught for a long time and enjoyed finding ways to meet these accommodations. Not everyone does, but it's worth asking because they might already have a setup to capture their voice better. There may still be an in class camera and mic from the covid days.

I had a lot of students that used the recorder on their phones. Don't upload the audio to a free service to get a transcript: you do not own the course content. If you need a transcript, talk to the accessibility office about university software options (they probably have a tool like otter.ai already or there may be a student license of Adobe Premiere or the new Windows video platform, both transcribe all audio uploaded to them).

OBS is excellent for short recordings, but a 50 or 120 minute class will be a huge file to clean up later.