Simple work with PowerBook

have you read this?

 

well...

like zim said, yer gonna need a pre-amp or a mixer of some sort to use that SM57. Personally, I hook my SM57 up to a Mackie DFX6 mixer which I run through an M-Audio 2496 sound card. Inasmuch as yer using a powerbook, that solution probably wouldn't work for you.

I don't own one (so I can't say for sure how good it is), but many people seem to be happy with the M-AudioFW410...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-FireWire-410-Computer-Recording-Interface?sku=701385

I think the FW410 can be daisy-chained to another FW410, so you if you decide to get another you could hook them together...

Or you could have a look at the M-Audio Solo...
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-FireWire-Solo-Mobile-Audio-Interface?sku=701364

Either one of these would do the job. There's other stuff that's less expensive, much of it USB, that might better fit your budget. IMHO you might be better off to avoid USB for this application. You'd be running a lot of current through a port that really was designed for keyboards, mice and other low-voltage stuff like that---may not be too healthy for the laptop's innards. That's just my opinion, mind you, but being cautious never hurt anybody.

hope this helps