Volume per channel (sound(4))

[emilia]

> If this refers to what I think it does, it is controlled
> by the applications themselves (e. g., have two instances
> of mplayer running: changing volume on one doesn't change
> the volume on the other; then additionally start xmms, its
> volume can be changed independently from the others which
> keep their volume).

That just means that applications can do volume control on their own, there really isn't that much
you could do to prevent this in an OS, it would be fairly wierd to then advertise it as a feature.
I understand it as I have controls for the streams somewhere where i can change their volume them
without the applications cooperation, which for me is important since the application i have been
trying to mute did not have a mute button :)

regards,
emilia