Skype has developed a bug/feature where it mutes any music you have playing, at the beginning of a call. I call this a bug because they don’t let you decide if you want this feature enabled, instead forcing it on you. There’s no config option to disable this or tweak the level of muting provided.
Last.fm also developed a bug in it’s recent updates, one which probably isn’t an intended feature at all, wherein it reopens iTunes immediately after you close it.
There’s a third bug with the skype auto-mute ‘feature’ wherein it only can mute programs that were launched before the call starts.
So, you are listening to iTunes, you want to make a Skype call but keep listening at current volume, the solution is to start the call, close iTunes, let last.fm restart iTunes for you, and 2nd-gen iTunes is immune to skype’s mute attempts, and everyone is happy. Until you hang up the current call in skype and start a new call, at which point you will have to restart iTunes again.
clear as mud, right?
UPDATE: There is a fix, in Control Panel, under Sounds go to the Communications tab, and select “do nothing”. Guess it wasn’t Skype’s fault after all. d’oh.
