In reply to David McCan.

Sorry, but have you ever created a post type? It's nothing like that.
The parameters of a post type are irrelevant to post formats.
Post formats are an uber taxonomy with a few built in features to enable easy custom formatting based on the selection.
It's a great feature and if one doesn't want to use it so be it. It doesn't get in the way.
With so much focus on the back-end, it wouldn't hurt to give it some love and razzmatazz to content presentation and provide some excitement for bloggers.
In fact post formats and oembed could be a marriage in content heaven.