I can plug in a USB drive and it works fine. 

I start rhythmbox and it causes the drive to be ejected.

Here is the output of dmesg:

[  571.432202] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -110
[  572.440474] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -110
[  572.456679] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  573.852167] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -110
[  573.880126] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  573.896248] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  574.321447] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  574.337826] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  575.732672] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -110
[  575.761766] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  575.778390] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  576.203465] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  576.220859] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  576.636416] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  576.652544] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  578.040145] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -110
[  578.069002] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  578.085232] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  578.501560] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  578.517679] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  579.900902] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -110
[  579.930501] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  579.946625] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  580.374449] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  580.390574] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  580.806528] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  580.822647] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  581.239205] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  581.255330] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  582.644692] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -110
[  582.672791] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  582.688912] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  583.105616] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  583.121735] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  584.520713] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -110
[  584.549563] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  584.566187] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  585.952783] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -110
[  585.981887] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  585.998011] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  587.384738] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -110
[  587.413955] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  587.430074] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  587.851916] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  587.868152] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  588.284976] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  588.301093] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  589.696202] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -110
[  589.724072] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  589.740298] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  591.128772] usb 2-3.1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -110
[  591.156751] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 255 ret -71
[  591.172850] usb 1-3: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd rhythmbox rqt 128 rq 6 len 1024 ret -71
[  602.129207] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 15
[  607.284156] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[  612.532033] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[  612.752130] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 15
[  617.896567] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -71
sam@sojo:/tmp$ ls -l /dev/sdd
sdd   sdd1  
sam@sojo:/tmp$ sudo dmesg -c
[  623.148677] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[  623.364051] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 15
[  628.792059] usb 1-3: device not accepting address 15, error -71
[  628.900060] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 15
[  634.324547] usb 1-3: device not accepting address 15, error -71
[  634.324632] usb 1-3: USB disconnect, address 15
[  634.325461] sd 10:0:0:0: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery
[  634.326238] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdd] Unhandled error code
[  634.326250] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdd] Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
[  634.326266] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdd] CDB: Write(10): 2a 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 01 00
[  634.326300] end_request: I/O error, dev sdd, sector 64
[  634.326315] Buffer I/O error on device sdd1, logical block 1
[  634.326326] lost page write due to I/O error on sdd1
[  634.460541] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd
# at this point, the drive has been removed

The drive never successfully inserts while rhythmbox is running

I'm running Maverick with all the updates