Streaming media is multimedia, such as video and audio content, which is received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider. With streaming media, a client media player can start playing media content before the entire file has been transmitted from a server, e.g., over a telecommunications network. For example, a user may visit a media streaming website using a web browser running on a personal computing device. The user may play multimedia content, including video and audio portions, in a media player from the media streaming website. The streaming provider may transmit the audio and video portions of the content to the personal computing device over a network, such as the Internet, which may be played back in the media player.
Many users stream multimedia content, including video and audio components, to their personal computers. In some cases, a user may stream multiple multimedia content items, so that the streams run simultaneously in multiple windows or tabs of a browser. For example, this may occur when streaming different sporting events or other types of multiple coverage for an event that the user wants to toggle between. In these cases, the user typically hears the sound from the multiple multimedia streams playing in the different windows or tabs of the browser, regardless of which multimedia stream the user is currently watching. This is a sub-optimal experience for the user, as the conflicting sounds from the various multimedia streams cancel each other out. Solutions exist that turn off sound using shortcuts on a taskbar of the user's device or using keyboard controls. However, these solutions usually require the user to manually select the task bar shortcut or manually input the keyboard control.