I read in a computer magazine that it is possible to convert mp3 files
to ogg files.
Can any one tell me the detailed way to do this conversion?
Also is the quality of the ogg files as good as mp3?
Also I downloaded the software to run mp3 files in XMMS player in
redhat 9.0. Now I can listen to songs, but sometimes after the end of
a song, the audio stops and I get the window with the following
message written.

Couldn't open audio
Please check that
1.You have the correct output plugin selected.
2.No other programs is blocking the soundcard.
3.Your soundcard is configured properly.


I get this message in a random manner.I might get this message after a
single file is played or 10 files are played.I hope somebody solves my
problem.Thank you.

Head over to www.freshmeat.net and search for mp32ogg There is a conversion utility, but remember to satisfy the dependencies, it needs certain applications to do it's job

The quality is diminished even more when you convert an already lossy audio file to another near lossless version, but it seems it really is up to the user to determine if it's noticeable to you.

As for you problem, you might wanna see if there is an updated driver for your card, or look into ALSA if you aren't using it already.

Cool

When your problem happens do ps xa | grep arts and see if the arts sound daemon is running or lsof /dev/dsp if it is running you can kill number_of_arts_process to kill it off and the sound should work or get the xmmsarts plugin for XMMS and use that for the sound output instead of the OSS output in the setup. And you do not really want to convert to .ogg it sounds horrible when you do it.

Everybody's right about lossy+lossy=lost but, just to clarify that specific question that wasn't really addressed, ogg files are as good as mp3s if they're of the same generation from the source as the mp3 - and some think better. I've only used oggs to any great extent on one system so I couldn't say if it was the format or the sound system (which is intermittently buggy in my case) but, generally, I'd rate oggs as roughly the same. And, since there are no patent issues, they're superior. I don't convert to ogg, but do encode in ogg.