Comment 7 for bug 722484

With the soundmenu enabled in the ppa package same thing. If it's enabled in Edit> preferences then banshee will not play anything and the soundmenu doesn't expand.

Disabling it returns function in banshee and the soundmenu.

So - banshee and the soundmenu work fine as long as it's (show in soundmenu) is Not enabled.

Further - disabling the extension itself doesn't prevent banshee from using the soundmenu either