It's worth starting with the 300 free minutes. That's 5 hours of recording and has always been enough for me so far. And if you ever run out, you can easily switch to the ro subscription with 1200 minutes per month. Alternatively, it is also possible to buy more transcription time once, from 120 to 600 minutes.
Incidentally, the Pro subscription has even more professional templates (e.g. for summaries etc.) than the Starter subscription, which can also be customised. But I don't think that's absolutely necessary.
And as far as I know, the Starter plan is not limited to one year.
I think the plan structure is fair and I definitely recommend it!

It's no use to me as there is no playback - too complicated!
I would like to sell it again!

It really is only useful with a plan. You can try the minimum and then expand as you see the amount of transcription you need.

Yes, the device can be used without a plan. Without a plan, you have 300 minutes of recording per month (the Pro version has 1200 minutes), which is quite something. What I haven't found out yet: Whether these 300 minutes per month are only free for one year and then you have to pay after that or whether it stays that way. But I think it will stay that way.
Here is another good test report: https://www.nextpit.de/plaud-note...

I don't know! I haven't had a chance to use it yet! I haven't had a chance to use it yet!