Thoughts on OGG switch

Now that I've officially made it two weeks since I said that I would be switching to OGG Vorbis completely, I think it's time to do a little bit of introspection as to how it worked.

Note that this act was not necessarily about switching to Vorbis specifically, however much I like the codec and its benefits to my hardware. It was more about my relationship with my music library.

-As someone who usually purchases music he really likes on CD, this experiment has reconnected me with those albums that I really love listening to over and over again. Some of the CD's I didn't even have in my larger MP3 library (some for better reasons than others) so the nostalgia was a nice kick in the face.

-The most astounding thing was when I reinstalled Ubuntu and found that, when copying my music over, I didn't really feel like I needed anything more than the Vorbis stuff. I finally broke my Vorbis-only pact by digging through my MP3 files and copying what I missed, and the list was astoundingly small.

Some of that music, really, doesn't really have a reason to be in there. I let my music library pile up and it gets big and fat, with music that I can't really say I like. I'm not always honest with myself in respect to what I like or dislike ("Oh, but I might like it later!" was common, as well as "Oh, but I like this ONE SONG") so this is rather refreshing.

-I value physical discs far more than I did and will be purchasing music physically almost exclusively from here on out. Sure, there's the format freedom. But I'm far too flippant when I'm dealing with music files digitally. Making them physical makes it easier to apply minimalist philosophy to them, and as such I'm far more cautious when buying new discs.

-I value free music on the internet far more than I did, and I see myself spending less money on music and more time digging for interesting new bands in the Internet Archive. I also seed more on Jamendo.

-My car does not support OGG Vorbis files and this makes me sad. I'll admit, I did use one of my old MP3 file discs in my car for the two weeks. Not often, but yes, I did it. It's easier to use than plugging in the Sansa Clip+ and navigating the interface, and I was too busy with midterms to make a suitable replacement. I've got new CD's coming in the mail from Amazon as a treat for making it through the Vorbis swap mostly intact, so those will quickly remove the need for said MP3 Disc.

All in all, a success. I will continue to OGG Vorbis my life up, and reap the benefits.

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