I'm not real clear on the distinctives of each of these, what advantages they offer and in what circumstances do you use them. Can someone please shed some light on these for me?

OK, It's goes like this. a scene is your basic average button that you will use most of the time. just like on any other console. however a switch is used for bump effects that you can program. so you can use switches to override certain aspects of your lights while a scene is playing. One other thing is if you turn off a scene the lights go off. but if you turn off a switch with a scene playing behind it it reverts back to the values recorded in that scene. does this help?
Sincerely,

James, so your last comment means when I turn off a switch while a scene is playing the switch reverts back to whatever the scene is playing. Does this mean the switch actually turns off but the scene continues to play?

That is correct.
Sincerely,

oh, that IS cool!!!

so I can use the same, generic scene, for like say the chorus, but when we go from chorus to bridge, I can just drop in a switch and change the look of a couple things without having to create a whole new scene???

Basically ya. i use SWITCHES ALL the time! lol for a few songs I programmed to the entire song was like two scenes and the rest switches. haha. I hate to admit it and this may not sound right but I am a switch whore! haha.
Sincerely,