LP's... Do they sound better now than 30 yrs ago?

I agree with lewm.  I have some from the late 50's and early 60's that sound incredible.  Nearly half of my LP collection was bought used and they sound wonderful. 

Find a friend with a good system.  Bring your favorite CD and it's LP counterpart.  That should be all it takes to convince you.  I usually prefer older pressings to newer ones, but I must say today's pressings are really getting good. 

Playing a clean LP (I wet clean using the formula from the December 1996  Stereophile at every play) and my Records are clean, quite and dynamic.  Using a quality record cleaning machine is a wonderful idea if you find cleaning your records a bother.

If anyone  wants a PDF of the record formula email and I will send it to you.  n@normansizemore.com

N.

I was planning on buying a very basic Player with a Cartridge already included for around $200.00 from Music Direct. Should I get it and try out LPs ( which I have none) or save my money and buy a better player and cartridge? Thanks for your Input!

I think the minimum spend is
$500 for TT buy a good used one there are many.
$100 min for new cartridge.
$600

A lot of people go digital because the required investment is less ie at $600 you might find digital = same quality as Vinyl. I am not sure where the crossover point is. Digital will be be easily better than a $200 turntable

that's my opinion.. i have both
mick

Buying used turntable is a gamble and turntables don't like shiipping, as if anything did, right.
I think, $600 $800 buy something acceptable to begin with, new, not including phono stage and cleaning devices. Dirty vinyl ruines the experience.

Agreed, dirty vinyl does ruin the experience. That and when the previous owner played the records with a nail.

Get a good cartridge, always listen to used vinyl before you buy it, and get a good TT.

There are plenty of good options in the 500-700 range.
I would rather see you buy a $500 TT and a $300 cartridge than a $700 TT with a $100 cartridge.

MusicDirect has a few great OpenBox options, some even with cartridges.

• Rega P2 $675 (No Cart)
  
• MusicHall 2.3 $500 (No Cart)
  
• VPI Cliffwood $900 (w/ Grado Green)
  

What does the rest of your system look like in terms of equipment? Will you need a phono pre-amp?