okay, to clarify this question (since a lot of people seem to be taking this the wrong way). oggenc ecodes files from wave files to ogg/vorbis format. As it does so it prints a basic status update (a spinner and the percent of the file done). My understanding is that he wants the status in REAL time somehow. system doesn't give anything back, and the backtic operator only gives output on the final status of what the program output (if memory serves me correctly - I've never tried to capture output of such a program).

Now I don't know how this myself, but maybe my explanation will make things a tad bit more clear(?). Truth be told this might be going about this the wrong way entirely. You can for instance obtain an ogg/vorbis encoding .dll, and interface directly with the .dll instead of trying to capture the status of the command line. But as I said, I don't know how to approach your problem either.