turntable recommendations for a vinyl newbie...

If you know little about vinyl, and I'm assuming you don't want to (or can't) employ the services of a good dealer (which you should) I suggest buying a Music Hall MMF5 and about 10 new records from Acoustic Sounds and see how you like dealing with it. It's either going to click with you or not. The MMF5 is not a great tt, but, having owned one, I think it's good enough to let you know whether you want to continue down the vinyl road. If you decide to sell, you'll lose a couple hundred. I would not deal with old thrift-shop records, as they will be noisy, dirty and damaged and will invariably diminish your pleasure at this stage. Better Records also has many sealed or mint copies of older vinyl and their grading system is right on. Mint means mint. Plus, for $5, they'll clean the records for you, saving you the investment in a machine which you WILL need should you get serious about vinyl.

I enjoy my digital setup very much and do most of my listening with it. But I think analog is worth exploring, and when done well, can be a source of much pleasure - or grief. Like everything else in this hobby. Good luck

I agree with T-Bone in that a cheap tt with thrift shop records may end up a big waste of time, but I still maintain that a new MMF-5 (There's one up from Underwood) at a good price, and a bunch of new records from Better Records or Acoustic sounds, will give the OP a good sense of whether he wants to continue with vinyl. I agree, buying someones flaky tt and messed up records may well be a waste of time and that's why I recommend against it.

It seems to me, TB, you're advocating not doing anything because it may be a waste of time. I guess the answer to that is - how much time do you have to waste? Some have much more than others.