For researchers
Participants
do not get joined by a bot.
Mac Note Taker records the user interview on the Mac running the call. Transcription is on-device. Diarization labels the moderator and the participant cleanly. The transcript is yours, in Markdown, ready for tagging.
The problem
Why researchers cannot use a generic cloud notetaker.
Research consent forms typically promise the participant that their recording will be handled by you and your team, not by an unannounced third party. A bot from a SaaS notetaker showing up in the call breaks that promise. Worse, if the participant is a healthcare worker, a minor, or anyone under GDPR, the cloud upload is a new legal headache.
- Consent forms rarely list the cloud notetaker as a data processor. Now they have to.
- Recruited participants drop off when they see a bot in the join queue.
- Cloud notetaker pricing is per-seat; one-off freelance researchers pay for unused capacity.
- Research repositories like Dovetail or Notably want the transcript file, not a vendor link.
What this means for researchers
A transcript pipeline that matches the consent form.
Participant only sees you
System audio capture means there is no bot in the join queue. The participant is talking to a moderator, not a notetaker.
Clean diarization
Moderator and participant tracks separated automatically. Voice fingerprints recognize the same participant across follow-up sessions.
Repository-ready exports
Markdown, JSON, SRT, plain text. Drop straight into Dovetail, Notably, Reduct, or a shared drive.
Easier consent story
Your consent form names you and your team. Mac Note Taker is a tool on your Mac, not a new processor in the chain.
In practice
What researchers use it for.
User interviews
- Both sides captured cleanly, no bot in the call.
- Speaker labels mapped to Moderator / Participant by hand.
- Markdown export drops into Dovetail or Notably for tagging.
Diary + longitudinal studies
- Same participant across multiple sessions, recognized by voice fingerprint.
- Local storage means a multi-week study does not balloon a cloud bill.
- Audio can be deleted per session, transcripts kept for analysis.
Internal stakeholder interviews
- Long, multi-speaker rounds diarized cleanly.
- Action items per stakeholder so the synthesis is faster.
- 5-bullet summary helps draft the readout deck.
Side by side
Cloud notetaker vs Mac Note Taker for UX research.
| Concern | Cloud notetaker | Mac Note Taker |
|---|---|---|
| Bot visible to participant | Yes | No |
| Audio in vendor cloud | Yes | No - on your Mac |
| New processor on consent form | Yes | No |
| Export to research repo (Dovetail, etc) | Sometimes via integration | Markdown / JSON / SRT, by hand |
| Pricing | $15-30 / user / month | $149 lifetime, 3 Macs |
A research recorder that matches the consent form.
$149 lifetime - 3 Macs - first 100 buyers use code FOUDNER for $79.