Comment 2 for bug 250203

Thank you for taking the time to report the problems you've experienced and helping to improve Ubuntu. Multimedia keys are set up globally, not per program. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MultimediaKeys for information regarding this. If your multimedia keys are correctly configured and you are having trouble with them in a specific program, such as Rhythmbox, please file a bug report with details about the hardware you are using and which programs they do and do not work in. Also, in the future, please remember to file one bug per separate problem. They are much more manageable when they are filed individually.

As for the menu problem, simply click outside the menu or hit the Escape key to leave the menu, then switch to the program that you need. As for changing the way this works, we appreciate your suggestion. However, the changes you are requesting aren't really a bug and require more discussion, which should be done on an appropriate mailing list or forum. http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community/mailinglists might be a good start for determining which mailing list to use.