Newbie to Vinyl Seeks Tips

Cleaning:
Spin Clean & cleaning fluid. Use once for dirty albums
Record brush Use before each play
ZeroStat for static as needed
Stylus brush

Good Rules To Follow
Use the cuing device when lowering stylus on the record
Use the cuing device when lifting stylus off the record
NEVER touch the record grooves
Get a GOOD Phono preamp
Clean records should have no pops & clicks
Always return the record to its inner sleeve & cover after play.
Store Records upright, not laid flat
Keep records away from heat. 
Vinyl play is NOT Convenient. But it IS rewarding. 
Vinyl is for listening, not chores, reading, playing cards, etc. Digital is      for those activities.
Learn the Goldmine standard of record grading. It will serve you well when you go shopping for used records. Don't play anything less than VG+. Anything below that will have surface noise, pops, clicks and maybe skips. Plus it is not good on your stylus.
ENJOY The Journey. 

Use these as rules and you will have a good sound and a good time. If these are too cumbersome, go back to digital cause you will not enjoy vinyl. Good luck

For cleaning, the best by far is the Walker Enzyme 4 step method. The full kit is expensive but you can buy the refills cheap and then use your own brush, the MoFi brushes are excellent.  

Once records are cleaned then unless your home is especially dirty and dusty you won't touch them for a long time, but just use ZeroStat and blow off the occasional speck of dust. 

You are close enough you are welcome to come over some time I could line it up to clean some records so you see first hand what I'm talking about. Surprised you got records last I heard you had no interest. Guess you heard what you heard here and that was enough to get you hooked? ;)

The real question is what you ultimately find appealing about vinyl. It is, in general, still the the most cost effective sound quality at a given price... $1,000, $5,000, $25,000, or $100,000 per end. So that could be a reason. Sounds like you have a lot more invested in your digital end. So, it could be for the enjoyment of collecting. I have 2,000 albums collected over 55 years. I have a spectacular system, both analog and digital. I listen to vinyl about 10 or 15% of the time. I buy audiophile pressings usually, from Music Direct, sometimes Amazon. I love jazz, blues, rock, so sometimes dropping buy a used record store is really fun, picking up used albums for $5, $10,or $15. Something finding albums for $1 can be a blast. Late 50’s recordings are the best ever made. Every time I spin one I am shocked, delighted, and disappointed that recording quality went down for so many decades.
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The foundation piece of equipment for a record collection should be a record cleaning machine. There are many good ones. Otherwise it is really going to be a struggle. I use a VPI full sized vacuum record cleaner. I first clean with Last Power cleaner, then VPI solution dispensed in the cleaner, vacuum it off, then treat with Last preservative. I have many pristine recordings I bought for a dollar. Examine carefully before buying and clean when home. After the initial cleaning (new albums also), I only do a quick wipe with Last All purpose cleaner if I see some dust or hair on it. Otherwise nothing for many... many plays.
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If you double the cost of your turntable you will go “wow”... if you double the cost of your cartridge you will go “wow”. If you double the cost of your Phonostage you will get a “wow”, when $1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 8,000, 16,000... well you get the point.
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Sound or collecting, or maybe you like fiddling and tweaking equipment (TT, arm, cartridge)?

Ultrasonic cleaning before first play.
Or buy my Nitty Gritty vacuum to get 50% effectiveness, even with "power cleaner" and stupid scrubbing.
Amazon prices are everchanging. Supply and demand.
Discogs is the ONLY place you should buy records. OR pay up for hot stampers, curated great platters. Too bad they cost as much as your TT.
Going through thrift racks is like walking the beach with a metal detector. Pretty much a waste of time but you could win the lottery.

RIGHT!

whart - Thanks for all that advice.  I'll browse through the London Jazz Collector site.  My musical tastes are quite varied and evolving.  I ignored jazz for most of my life but I'm finding myself enjoying some of the more contemporary experimental jazz as well as classics like Miles Davis or Coltrane but it still the case that I dislike more jazz than I like it.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I think well recorded/produced contemporary music sounds awfully good in digital streaming.  On the other hand, a lot of the older stuff from the 1960's-1990's sounds like crap streaming and one of the things that is driving me to try vinyl is to see if the records are better than the digital versions.

What is your blog?