Digital Djing Help For Newbie Options

[J.Knecht]

Hey everyone. This is my first post to this forum. Please forgive my ludditious tendencies. I'm analogue at heart.

After 10 years of vinyl djing, I am ready to embark into the digital realm wiith my mp3's, but have no idea how.

I use a 867 Mhz PowerBook G4, OS 10.4 246 MB RAM (hopefully soon to upgrade)

I have just tried Native Instrument's Traktor software, and I am impressed. I managed to get a basic understanding of how it works, with the exception of the cue function.

I seem to gather that I need an external soundcard or something of the sort. What I need to do (right now) is to cue one channel in headphones, while the program is going to an amp (or mixer). What is the best way to accomplish this. I normally feed my computer to my mixer through a simple 1/8" (mini headphone) jack to RCA cable.

I am really in the dark, and what I would really like is a description of your setup(s). Any software recommendations are also appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

J.Knecht