Option to bypass the system sound setting and always play a sound

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I keep notifications volume to zero because I don't want to be distracted by 
every single event going on. However kitchentimer alarms are something I 
definitely want to be aware of (there is a risk of burning a meal or even 
starting a fire) so it would be nice if there were a way to bypass any 
Android's volume setting and play the alarm at full strength. This is a very 
simple but effective alarm clock I used on Symbian until a couple of weeks ago 
http://code.google.com/p/eggclock60/ with a very piercing sound.

By the way, the stock clock application uses the alarm sound channel for both 
alarms and timers, so it bypasses silent mode. That's bad for alarms going off 
during meetings but it would be ok for a kitchen timer.

A couple of notes:

kitchentimer plays the alarm sound using the system notification channel. 
Whether this turns out to be a good choice depends on the usage patters of 
every single user so there won't be a good solution for everybody. That's why 
this is a feature request.

Furthermore this whole subject is complicated by the number of different sound 
channels provided by Android and by the expectations of users with previous 
experiences with other phones. An example: many people don't want alarms to 
sound in silent mode (that was the case on Symbian), many people are happy with 
it.

Thanks

Original issue reported on code.google.com by pmontra...@gmail.com on 8 Jun 2011 at 11:04