diff --git a/alsaaudio.c b/alsaaudio.c
index ef900ea..a8b5316 100644
--- a/alsaaudio.c
+++ b/alsaaudio.c
@@ -652,6 +652,7 @@ static PyObject *alsapcm_write(alsapcm_t *self, PyObject *args)
     int res;
     int datalen;
     char *data;
+    PyObject *rc = NULL;
     
 #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args,"s#:write",&data,&datalen)) 
@@ -690,15 +691,22 @@ static PyObject *alsapcm_write(alsapcm_t *self, PyObject *args)
     }
     Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
   
-    if (res == -EAGAIN) 
-        return PyLong_FromLong(0);
+    if (res == -EAGAIN) {
+        rc = PyLong_FromLong(0);
+    }
     else if (res < 0) 
     {
         PyErr_SetString(ALSAAudioError,snd_strerror(res));
-        return NULL;
     }  
+    else {
+        rc = PyLong_FromLong(res);
+    }
+    
+#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
+    PyBuffer_Release(&buf);
+#endif
 
-  return PyLong_FromLong(res);
+    return rc;
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(write_doc,
diff --git a/play_rusage.py b/play_rusage.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7fa62d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/play_rusage.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+# Contributed by Stein Magnus Jodal
+
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import resource
+import time
+
+import alsaaudio
+
+seconds = 0
+max_rss = 0
+device = alsaaudio.PCM()
+
+while True:
+    device.write(b'\x00' * 44100)
+    time.sleep(1)
+    seconds += 1
+    if seconds % 10 == 0:
+        prev_rss = max_rss
+        max_rss = resource.getrusage(resource.RUSAGE_SELF).ru_maxrss
+        diff_rss = max_rss - prev_rss
+        print('After %ds: max RSS %d kB, increased %d kB' % (
+            seconds, max_rss, diff_rss))