I listen to a bit of music with N900 and what I find is that I always have to turn the screen on to be able to schange the volume using the physical volume buttons on the side.

I was wondering if it is possible to make the N900 volume keys to work even with the screen off?

It would also be awesome if the camera button can be used to pause/resume playback when fully depressed while the screen is turned off.

(It's not like those buttons get accidently pressed that easily while inside the pocket, especially the camera button. Considering it listens to the power button while it's in that state, I can only assume the other buttons can also be changed to react.)

Hi jakiman, your ideas are good, and some brainstorms have been opened around them.
Have a look here:

http://maemo.org/community/brainstor...he_camera_key/

http://maemo.org/community/brainstor...n_when_locked/

Feel free to vote for them and their solution.