diff -r bf6f306ad5cf Lib/test/test_winsound.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_winsound.py	Thu Feb 09 18:27:48 2012 +0800
+++ b/Lib/test/test_winsound.py	Thu Feb 09 15:42:43 2012 -0500
@@ -11,6 +11,15 @@
 ctypes = support.import_module('ctypes')
 import winreg
 
+
+def lookup_sound(sound):
+    """Return the WAV file configured to play for a sound."""
+    key = winreg.OpenKeyEx(
+        winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
+        "AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\{0}\.Default".format(sound))
+    return winreg.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(winreg.EnumValue(key, 0)[1])
+
+
 def has_sound(sound):
     """Find out if a particular event is configured with a default sound"""
     try:
@@ -19,10 +28,7 @@
         if ctypes.windll.winmm.mixerGetNumDevs() is 0:
             return False
 
-        key = winreg.OpenKeyEx(winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
-                "AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\{0}\.Default".format(sound))
-        value = winreg.EnumValue(key, 0)[1]
-        if value is not "":
+        if lookup_sound(sound) != "":
             return True
         else:
             return False
@@ -102,6 +108,16 @@
             winsound.PlaySound,
             "none", winsound.SND_ASYNC | winsound.SND_MEMORY
         )
+        self.assertRaises(
+            TypeError,
+            winsound.PlaySound,
+            'bad', winsound.SND_MEMORY
+        )
+        self.assertRaises(
+            TypeError,
+            winsound.PlaySound,
+            b'bad', 0
+        )
 
     @unittest.skipUnless(has_sound("SystemAsterisk"),
                          "No default SystemAsterisk")
@@ -225,6 +241,14 @@
             # does not raise on systems without a sound card.
             pass
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(has_sound("SystemAsterisk"),
+                         "No default SystemAsterisk")
+    def test_memory(self):
+        if _have_soundcard():
+            with open(lookup_sound('SystemAsterisk'), 'rb') as sound:
+                winsound.PlaySound(sound.read(), winsound.SND_MEMORY)
+
+
 
 def _get_cscript_path():
     """Return the full path to cscript.exe or None."""
diff -r bf6f306ad5cf Misc/ACKS
--- a/Misc/ACKS	Thu Feb 09 18:27:48 2012 +0800
+++ b/Misc/ACKS	Thu Feb 09 15:42:43 2012 -0500
@@ -594,6 +594,7 @@
 Marc-Andre Lemburg
 John Lenton
 Christopher Tur Lesniewski-Laas
+Tim Lesher
 Alain Leufroy
 Mark Levinson
 William Lewis
diff -r bf6f306ad5cf Misc/NEWS
--- a/Misc/NEWS	Thu Feb 09 18:27:48 2012 +0800
+++ b/Misc/NEWS	Thu Feb 09 15:42:43 2012 -0500
@@ -7588,6 +7588,8 @@
 
 - Issue #5228: Make functools.partial objects can now be pickled.
 
+- Issue #11620: Fix the SND_MEMORY flag for winsound.PlaySound.
+
 Tests
 -----
 
diff -r bf6f306ad5cf PC/winsound.c
--- a/PC/winsound.c	Thu Feb 09 18:27:48 2012 +0800
+++ b/PC/winsound.c	Thu Feb 09 15:42:43 2012 -0500
@@ -72,20 +72,55 @@
 static PyObject *
 sound_playsound(PyObject *s, PyObject *args)
 {
+    PyObject* sound;
+    Py_buffer view;
     wchar_t *wsound;
     int flags;
     int ok;
 
-    if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "Zi:PlaySound", &wsound, &flags)) {
-        if (flags & SND_ASYNC && flags & SND_MEMORY) {
-            /* Sidestep reference counting headache; unfortunately this also
-               prevent SND_LOOP from memory. */
-            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "Cannot play asynchronously from memory");
-            return NULL;
+    view.buf = 0;
+    if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "Oi:PlaySound", &sound, &flags)) {
+        if (sound == Py_None) {
+            /* Stop currently-playing waveform sound */
+            wsound = NULL;
         }
+        else if (flags & SND_MEMORY) {
+            /* Playing from memory--sound must be a buffer object */
+            Py_buffer view;
+            if (flags & SND_ASYNC) {
+                /* Sidestep reference counting headache; unfortunately
+                   this also prevent SND_LOOP from memory. */
+                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, 
+                                "Cannot play asynchronously from memory");
+                return NULL;
+            }
+
+            if (PyObject_GetBuffer(sound, &view, PyBUF_SIMPLE) < 0) {
+                return NULL;
+            }
+            wsound = (wchar_t*) view.buf;
+        }
+        else {
+            /* Playing from alias or filename--sound must be a string */
+            if (!PyUnicode_Check(sound)) {
+                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, 
+                                "Sound must be str or None.");
+                return NULL;
+            }
+            else {
+                wsound = PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(sound);
+                if (!wsound) {
+                    return NULL;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
         ok = PlaySoundW(wsound, NULL, flags);
         Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+
+        if (view.buf)
+            PyBuffer_Release(&view);
         if (!ok) {
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "Failed to play sound");
             return NULL;