Locked audio?

[PsypherPunk]

Is there any way to prevent the audio device (crw-rw----+ 1 root audio /dev/dsp) becoming locked?

i've been trying to use Krecord for some time but keep getting errors; today i discovered that if i restart the sound-system i'm able to use it. Using anything else (amaroK, Skype, etc.) locks it again, even after they stop actively producing sound. The same thing happens when i want to use amaroK after running Skype, i get a 'device busy' error and amaroK has a fit.

i'd prefer not to have to keep restarting the sound-system and/or shutting down each program only to immediately reopen it after use.

[PsypherPunk]

Turns out this is an issue with Skype, addressed here.