Clueless Analog Newbie, Looking to Buy

Actually, no, things *haven't* changed in the year and a half since you last posted-at least in the world of vinyl. It's pretty much the same stuff available at your price point now as it was then. And since you still "know nothing" about it, even with the advice proffered last time and the eighteen months you might have spent searching archives here and at other sites (this question has been asked thousands of times) I can only assume that you're a tire kicker wasting all these people's time.

In sum, yeah, I'd stick to the ceedees.

Unless your going to buy new vinyl I find it a waste of time.

Before I sold my vinyl I purchased a better tt to see if it would sound better than my old Technics SL-1500. It did not sound any better to me than the Technics.
I suggest that for your experiment you pick up an inexpensive tt on ebay, get a decent Audio Technica cartridge and give it a whirl. If you like what you hear you can upgrade, if not, you can resell the tt and won't lose much. Good luck.
Oh yeah, my vinyl collection was nearly 35 years old when I sold most of it. For me, vinyl isn't worth the hassle. People with thousands of $$ in playback facilities can argue and may be right. But that's more money than I care to invest in music playback. Good luck.

Man, I don't think I've ever a Mellow hasrshed so much. Sheesh.

It's really shameful that a lot of the post on this thread are just mean spirited instead of helpful. It is no wonder more people don't want to get into this hobby.