With the G4 Digital Audio (and some other models) you can also select the boot volume on startup (provided you have OS X and OS 9 installed on seperate disks or partitions). Hold down the option key when you switch on the Mac and you will very quickly get a "Bootcamp" style screen giving you options for which disk you would like to start from.
Take a look here for more info: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178
Take a look here for more info: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178