What is a media type?

[David Powell <djpowell@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The "type" attribute of atom:content can be a MIME media type:

> 4.1.3  The "atom:content" Element
[...]
> 4.1.3.1  The "type" attribute
[...]
> [...] Failing that, it MUST be a MIME media type [RFC2045] with a
> discrete top-level type (see Section 5 of [RFC2045]).

After looking at RFC2045, I wasn't very clear about what a "media
type" is.

Does it include parameters? Parts of 2045 suggest that a "media type"
might include parameters:

> 5.  Content-Type Header Field
> 
> The purpose of the Content-Type field is to describe the data
> contained in the body [...] The value in this field is called a
> media type.


Other parts (most of the document in fact), suggest that a "media
type" is only the top level element, such as "text":

> After the media type and subtype names, the remainder of the header
> field is simply a set of parameters


Is "media type" an accurate term for us to use?

I'm asking this because I really don't know whether parameters are
supposed to be allowed in the "type" attribute or not.

-- 
Dave