Attention, .Mac subscribers (and we know you're out there): you may have already heard, but we frequently run into members who never seem to notice Apple's periodic little bonus offers to the nice folks who shell out 99 clams a year. These are the people who let their free iPhoto prints expire and never download their free software before the offer ends, which is a darn shame, because you can really boost your value-for-money if you find a decent perk every now and again. For example, need a copy of Keynote? .Mac subscribers get $30 off. Find a couple more values like that and your yearly membership fee is practically paid for.

And if free iPhoto prints and discounts on software just don't do it for you, you might be interested to know that Apple's latest goody for .Macfolk breaks new ground: this time you get to save some moolah on the hardware bill. No, it's not a discount on a new Mac, or indeed on any Apple product... but if iMovie 4 is calling your name and you're in the market for a new DV camcorder to unleash the Spielberg within (and you just know he's starting to feel cramped in there, what with your grossly enlarged liver and that surgical sponge they accidentally left in you during your appendectomy), for a limited time you can save 10% off any in-stock model at an Apple retail store.

Catches? Nothing that isn't stated up front: the camera you want has to be in stock, and this deal applies only to retail store purchases, not online orders. Apparently all you have to do is bring in "a printout of the .Mac Welcome page," presumably the one that appears if you're actually a member. (If you are, there's a little thing at the bottom that mentions the discount; if not, no go, Pokey Joe.) Oh, and you have to take advantage of the offer by the end of March, so if you're counting on using your tax refund to finance your fledgling filmmaking career, you may want to file nice and early.

This is a pretty nice offer, when you think about it, and we're not just saying that because it's a slow news day. (Well, okay, maybe just a little bit.) If you buy a nice camcorder that normally costs over a thousand smackers, your savings from the .Mac discount is actually greater than your entire year's .Mac subscription fee in the first place, and that sounds like a heckuva deal if you were going to buy a camcorder anyway. (Truth be told, we don't actually know offhand if the retail stores even stock any $1000+ models, but hey, it's a nice thought, isn't it?)

What's interesting, though, is that right now you apparently don't need to sign in with a valid .Mac account to get the discount-- just going to the .Mac home page with a browser that's been used with a valid account seems sufficient. We haven't done extensive testing on this, but it looks to us that as long as .Mac finds a cookie from a previous valid .Mac login session, the home page includes the "present a printout of this .Mac page" box. Who knows? Maybe the stores are instructed to confirm that the account listed in the "Hi, Username" box is in fact owned by you, but we really doubt it. But none of you non-.Mac subscribers would actually stoop so low as to take advantage of an offer not intended for you, right? Nobody tilts Pepsi bottles, either.

Then again, it might all be sorta moot anyway, since 10% off Apple retail prices for its stocked camcorders isn't necessarily all that skippy a deal in the first place. A quick bit of digging will probably let you find the same cameras from reputable sellers for even cheaper than 10% off Apple's price. Just as a f'rinstance, consider the Canon Elura 50: normally $699 from Apple, $629 with the .Mac discount, and just $559.94 from Amazon-- and Amazon generally doesn't charge sales tax, and offers free shipping, to boot. Still, the specific model you want may well be priced very attractively with the .Mac discount (Apple beats Amazon on the Sony DCR-TRV38, for example), so it's probably worth investigating.

And for heaven's sake, when you unleash the Spielberg within, make sure you offer him a towel.