Frustrated with Vinly

Chakster, I'm with you on minimal care required and if there is no static any sleeve will do although the paper ones do get crappy after a while.
However the issue of new vs vintage vinyl is extremely variable. I have many old European classical records that are just unbelievable and dead quiet. But I have some older rock and jazz records that were terrible mixes probably because the monitoring equipment being used was sub optimal. I have new releases, one that comes to mind is Weather Report's Sweetnighter which is fabulous in all ways but some of the newer rock reissues are awful. My original copy of Roxy Music's Avelon out performs any of the digital or vinyl reissues I have. 
So, it is a mixed bag. If you really love the music and the reissue is being done by a company that has pride in it's product it is perfectly legitimate to get the reissue. 
I do find it odd that people buy records purely for the sound quality and not the music.  

As far as reissues vs original pressing is concerned it is a crap shoot. Can go either way. 
As far as gunk in the groove of new records is concerned, there isn't any. Nada, nothing. I once played 15 new records in a row under a dust cover using a conductive sweep arm. At the end there was nothing on the stylus under a microscope. Nothing, not even any dust (all on the sweep arm.) 
Yes, you can digitize your record collection. Get Channel D's Pure Vinyl and you can download it to the computer in real time at 192/24. You don't need a reel to reel machine. I have pure Vinyl and have down loaded several records and they do sound fine but I decided not to do it. There is something traditional about playing a record that I like. I have records that have been played many times without any audible wear so I do not feel the need to download them to save the collection. Channel D makes phono amps that have no compensation in them. The RIAA correction is done by the computer. So Pure Vinyl actually plays the record. I have not tried this yet and do not know if I ever will. Some people think it is an improvement. Analog junkies do not like digitizing their music. 
Good rice paper record sleeves that will not hold static are a must but they have to be well made and heavy or they just fold up when you try to put them back in the cover.

Hi jay,
If it is new records you are playing cleaning them will not do anything except make things worse. Some record companies just do a crappy job of pressing records. I have $75,000 worth of record playing stuff and I never clean a record I purchased from new. A dust cover and a conductive sweep arm are all I use.Having said all this
Some phono amps will do a better job of amplifying the signal without exaggerating the pops. I also think MC cartridges are more forgiving in this regard.
Having said all this, some people are more aggravated by extraneous noise. Tradition and romanticism do not matter as much. They are better off staying with digital sources.