imagefield, imagecache...what is _content_field_view?

I am trying to use imagefield with imagecache. Even when both modules were enabled I couldnt use imagecache when adding an imagefield..

So I finally found out that it is because of this line from the imagefield module:
if (module_exists('imagecache') && !function_exists('_content_field_view')) {

If I remove the part about content_field_view it would at least on the screen allow me to use both modules together.

So what is the _content_field_view function and what can I do to use imagecache together with imagefield?

thank you!