I have 6994 .mp3's that take up 40 gigs (I use L.A.M.E VBR quality 3 to encode) and ive been lookin at .ogg to possibally use.
98% of the .mp3's I own the cd's for so its just a matter of sittin down and re-ecoding them. What does everyone else use? Thanx. 
Ogg is nice, but your file sizes arent going to be any smaller. If you need space, I suggest you try WMA, i know its microsoft, but the file sizes are much smaller, with the same quality.
I heard that the file sizes in .ogg vs. mp3 were smaller with the same quality. I do have this love/hate thing with Microsoft. 
Nah, ive encoded plenty of Oggs and they arent much smaller, but i dont have 40GB worth, so even if they were a little smaller, i guess that would make a big difference. The good thing about Oggs is that they are open source, so its popular in Linux apps and stuff like that.
PS. What app do you use for encoding, because some apps give you more encoding options to help with size/quality. I like the LAME front end encoders, as they give you more options. CDex and LameFE are pretty good.
I use Audiocatilyst with the newiest L.A.M.E. .dll. Internal encoder.
when i rip cds, i use ogg... the files of lesser quality still sound the same to people, so you could say that it's smaller for the same quality. so yeah, i suggest ogg. but hey, i haven't messed with wma.
If you are considering linux (which I know you are), don't encode to wma. There isn't a good file player to play them. Basically the only really good music player is xmms and it does not play them. .ogg is not much smaller if it is at all smaller, i have used the format and am planning on continuing to use it for one reason... it is open source. The people that own .mp3 are planning to charge for the use of the codec, etc. That means players that play .mp3 could very easily cost money really soon.
Nah, they charge NOW, and the LAME encoder is free and open source. But if you are considering linux, dont do WMA, i agree , microsoft is really controlling. XMMS does MP3s just fine though.
Heres a question for all you Oggers - Does Ogg encode in true Surround or is it just simulated like MP3, because I play MP3s on my stereo system and the 5.1 is really bad, because its all simulated.
OGG all the way!
Much better quality at same bitrate (at least for 128 - 192). I'd never ever encode a single cd into mp3 if it weren't for my iPod... this way, my collection is split...
Can't wait for first usable distro of uClinux for iPod to come out so i can kick the mp3s out of my hard... 
Orcinus
PS: Oh and to answer Contrasutra's surround question, yes, OGG supports true surround and more (standard whitepaper says up to 255 channels per stream, if i remember correctly, but the actual no. of channels depends on player's support)
They charge but its not some big corp. Its shareware and its really good. A totally reworked version is comming out soon. I wasnt nessessarily tryin to stick with those examples either. Sounds like .mp3 is still dominant. Does the iPod play anything else? Juniperlater, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is planning to charge for use of the codec? Do you have a link to an articel? Thats like the .jpeg owners now want to start charging. It seems absurd. The codec is so rediculously widespread it would almost be impossible to keep a handle on it. Ill go to .ogg if it comes to it. Sorry fo the spellin. 
I've "packed" my music cd collection to a bunch of mp3 cds. This way I can have my music wherever I go in a more portable form (don't have an iPod, unfortunatelly). Mp3 allows for compatibility with devices and computers that haven't got used to ogg and other new formats.
I guess I'll stick to mp3 for mp3 cds and use ogg for the tracks that I want to have in my hard drive for daily access.
Ken
Im gonna stick with MP3s until they start to really charge or Oggs become MUCH better. OGGs are not sooo much better and MP3s are much more widely supported. The great thing is that if I had to, I could convert my whole MP3 collection into Oggs in probobly one evening.
Maybe ill go Oggs for the songs I want in my stereo.
I hate change. 
I do love the opensource community thats why .ogg and linux are so appealing but if the file size in .ogg isnt really better at a much smaller file size .mp3 it is. This is what I do with all this music: I built a Home Theater PC that connects to my TV. Duron 1.4, 512 RAM, ATI AIW 7500, (I wanna upgrade), micro atx mobo, 3 hardrives: 1. 30gig system drive 2. 120gig video drive 3. 60gig USB2 laptop drive (I have a mirror of this one), USB 2 card, firewire card, Wireless network card and wirelesskeyboard/mouse. I got 2 others but ill leave that for another time.
OGG does not lose higher notes and degrade the quality of music during compression. So if you are an audio freak and really want the best audio experience, then mp3 will not be the best.
I encoded the "The Monkees" CD into OGG and the whole CD is 101MB. And i set the quality at it's highest setting.
Sample CD's and size: (at highest quality setting)
Destiny's Child = 218MB
Yanni = 178MB
Coyote Ugly = 143MB
Voices Of Comfort = 147MB
Solitudes = 160MB
Savage Garden = 150MB
Robyn = 177MB
Those are just some samples. You might get different mileage.
it's all about mpc
If i really want to listen to quality and have to choose between mp3 or ogg, i go for ogg ... To hear the diffrence in ogg and mp3 you need a nice class-A amplifier and also important a good soundcard and then I notice that the hihats and high frequencies , also the speaker responces to very 'tight' sounds are much better.
The only downside atm is ...
The equaliser function doesnt seem to work for ogg. Only mp3 ... or i need an update for the ogg-decoder in QCD ... sometimes i like to boost a bit my low frequencies like i do with some mp3's .
Ogg files might be bigger than mp3 but with the current HD-sizes that wont be a problem anymore ... A bit audio-freak will go for 1 megabyte per mp3 more for better quality
The only problem with WMA's is that, one, its Microsoft, but thats not the main problem. The main problem is that the iPod doesnt support WMA's! AHHHHHH!!! I'll be gettin myself a nice iPod soon.
......... and then hopefully, eventually, a nice Mac to go with it!!
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