I want to listen to my music while I game, and I don't mean the in-game music, I mean the music in my itunes library. To to do this I have to minimize the game, and then proceed to select songs and whatnot. The problem is that I can't minimize all games for some reason, I either have to control-alt-delete, or exit the game entirely. Is there some kind of jukebox function in steam? Or is there some way I can minimize these games without having to control-alt-delete/exit the game?

And to keep this topic from being sort of spammy - Do you guys listen to your own music while you game, or do you prefer the games music? For me, it depends on the game. Hack 'n slash games, or MP games, I prefer my own music. And if I do listen to my own music while gaming, those specific songs become tied to that game in my mind.

Why don't you just make a playlist in the program you're listening to music with? That's what I do anyways.

I don't think there's any "jukebox" feature in steam.

Like stated above, you can make a playlist.

Also some keyboards have play/pause, stop, skip forward, and skip backwards buttons for music.

EDIT: I usually listen to my own music when playing games, it all depends on what kind of mood I am in though.

Steam jukebox function: not that I know of
I like listening to my own but I usually only do if there is a means to do it, fallout 3's Groovatron mod does include mp3 player functionality

Well, there is the built-in browser which can be utilized for something. Are there any web application which will play music from my computer, offline? Or a remote itunes/winamp controller maybe?

Oh man, my keyboard has that biz.

Just to be clear, are you trying to minimize the game by using Alt + Tab? That's pretty much the universal move-to-another-window function and only very rarely does it not work.

For your second question, I typically don't like listening to other music while playing games. The in-game music is typically the most appropriate. Only rarely do I ever make an exception.

I usually just use the windows button, but I'll give alt+tab a try.

If the story of the game is really important, or I actually dig the soundtrack of the game, then I listen to the game's music.

http://vip.aersia.net/vip-source.swf

There are many games that will not tab out with the windows button but will tab out with Alt+Tab, so I'd definitely recommend trying it with any game you have trouble with.

I always listen to the game's music, or just the game's sounds in general. If I'm playing music in the background (that is probably completely out of place too) I can't hear what's going on.

I've tried to listen to music while playing FPS's but its tough because I depend so much on surround sound. The only game I've ever really played music with is Crimson Skies. That was a ton of fun listening to Sevendust and Prong while barreling down someone with guns blazing.

For RPG games like Beths I need to have the in-game sound to be fully immersed.