Hey, everybuggy, it's Friday again, and you know what that means: that's right, it's 2-For-1 Scene Day! Oh, you thought it was Wildly Off-Topic Microsoft-Bashing Day? Well, normally, yeah, sure-- but this is the third Friday of March in a leap year whose digits add up to a multiple of six, so it's this 2-For-1 dealie instead. Didn't you read the manual? But hey, no need to get upset just 'cause you were all in the mood for some wildly off-topic Microsoft-bashing; since this scene is a 2-for-1, there's no reason why at least one of the two plot points can't be a nice solid jab at those goofs in Redmond.

Sadly, neither of them does have anything to do with Microsoft, but at least there's no reason why. Feel better? We know we do.

So, without further ado, Plot Point 1: Macworld UK reports that iPhoto is finally a complete application out there in Europe; after a mere 26 months since iPhoto first came into existence, European Mac users can now actually use it to order books and prints-- features that we U.S. users have long taken for granted. Nevertheless, these features aren't exactly late-- merely on-time-late, because at the last Expo Steve had promised them by March, and, well, it's still March. And better on-time-late than never, and now Europeans can suffer the same crippling economic hardship that U.S. Mac users endure, what with spending up to 23% of our gross income on those accursedly nifty clothbound books. Europeans take heed: they're like crack, only more expensive and available in several tasteful colors.

There's just one teensy little snag: in order to take advantage of these wallet-sucking features that they've been waiting for over two years to enjoy, Macworld UK reports that Apple's European customers need to be using iPhoto 4, the first version of iPhoto that isn't free unless you buy a whole new Mac. We haven't confirmed this (yeah, like that's our job), but if it's true, we have to imagine that at least a few users are miffed about getting strung along for so long, only to find out they now need to shell out the pounds/euros/ducats/whatever for iLife '04 in order to participate in that whole print-buying, book-making process. Here's hoping that when the iTunes Music Store finally gets over to Europe, customers won't have to shell out for some kind of secret decoder ring or something to make it work.

And speaking of the iTMS, that brings us nicely to Plot Point 2: faithful viewer David Triska sent us to a Rocky Mountain News article (via MacRumors) which reveals that the Grateful Dead is currently "finalizing a deal with Apple's iTunes to make every live note they've ever recorded available for download." Deadheads rejoice! We won't even hazard a guess as to what percentage of the band's fans are hip to the whole downloading music thing, but considering how many shows the Dead have played over the years, we have to think that adding every live performance to the iTMS's catalog would at least quadruple its size. Well, okay, maybe not, but think about it: conservatively, assume that the band played 10 songs a show and 100 shows a year for 30 years. That's 30,000 new tracks for the iTMS right there. Yikes.

Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir seems to think it's a happening arrangement: "At 99 cents a tune, it's a pretty decent price, because most of our tunes are pretty long." Ooooh, here's hoping Weir doesn't wind up disappointed; we seem to recall that the iTMS has an "album-only" policy on songs over a certain length, and a quick scan of the Dead's existing available catalog shows three over-12-minute tracks not available for individual 99-cent purchase. Maybe Apple will make an exception? It's never cool when Apple turns into The Man, dig?

And those are your 2-for-1 plot points for today. But you're just going to keep pouting about that Microsoft thing, aren't you? Oh, all right, ya big baby, here: Steve Ballmer still looks like Frank Barone on amphetamines. Happy now?