I don't have space problmes since I burn the FLAC files on CD's. My CD player never had any problem to read them.
I used to burn CDs of all the music I downloaded from this forum (and Unsungcomposers), too. However, there was SO much that even this became a space problem. Now I keep all the MP3s on a high-capacity external hard drive, and only burn CDs of the music I think I'll listen to more than once.
I admit it -- I'm a hoarder! :)
My approach exactly..and updating the mp3 tag fields allows me to embed the documentation in the file for inventory purposes.
Since I listen mostly on my mp3 player, no need for anything more robust although I do record mp3 live at 256KB.