Okay, I’ve just discovered this and I haven’t seen it written about anywhere, not on any forum so I am claiming it as my own. If you’re not aware, Apple has just released a new iPhone and also upgraded iPhone software. The most important component of the new software is the ability to download 3rd party applications. These include all kinds of business, geographic-specific and social network applications. There’s also a slew of fun games, the funest of which rely on the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer.

The mostest of the funest of these games, in my opinion, is Sega’s Super Monkey Ball. It consist of rotating, angling and tilting the phone in order to guide the monkey-enclosed-in-a-ball through a series of mazes. One major complaint of users, including me, is that these apps that normally contain a melodic yet annoying soundtrack would silence the iPod component of the iPhone, killing the idea of being able to listen to your tracks while you played the game. So it’s a choice: play Sudoku or listen to Simian Mobile Disco’s latest album. Which is going to get you through your commute easier, being able to concentrate on guiding a monkey through a maze or the drowning out through music of someone cracking their gum? You decide.

But now you don’t have to. Because I have discovered a workaround for the problem. Here it is: listen to your music. Select your game app. Once the app has loaded it will fade out your music, just as it does when you’re receiving a telephone call. Once the game has started, click your iPhone earbuds just as if you were un-pausing your music. Your tunes start up again. Aaaah, Sudoku and Kylie. Bliss.