>> (Half kidding. It would be great if all who work on aggregator stuff
>> unify their efforts on such an API).

Already there.  See http://groups.drupal.org/node/3528 (or the original post at http://drupal.org/node/130942).

Aron Novak's SoC project also addresses this, turning Aggregator module into an API with standard library for parsing, but opening up a pluggable architecture for other modules to replace/extend.

I believe that all the aggregator-type module authors are on board with the new API concept.

If you haven't read the proposed API, now is a good time...

- Ken Rickard
agentrickard