Which low cost turntable should I choose ?

So, Francisco, why would you advise Layton to eschew the purchase of a table? You have the creature. What in Layton's post makes you think that he will be less able to tolerate the foibles listed in the post link to which you link (real or imagined) than any of the rest of us? :-)

David, if someone goes to vinyl to find out the "vinyl vs CD" controversy he/she is headed for a lot of unnecessay trouble. There is no question per se! One should get into vinyl because there is music in that format that either is not available in CD or it's much cheaper in vinyl format.

I just spent $126 for seven used records. Unavailable in CD and from...Argentina! Tangos, gaucho ballads and folk music. Turns out that the records were $69, the rest is shipping and Western Union fees.

My intent is to cause shock and reflection...

Personally, I think our mate would be better served by the creature, as it is a universal TT and as I understand there are Rega armboards for the 1200 available in the UK.

The reasoning in the AA mssg posted above by psychicanimal seems pretty sound. Regarding budget, the real bottom line goes not to hardware but to LP "software" acquisition. Imagine if your musical tastes run to Blue Note jazz classics... something else to consider is that you will then be running 2 households, one analog, the other digital. Divided attention (doubled concerns) may result in reduced musical enjoyment, less likely so in the assumedly hoped for epiphany.

Francisco, now that I see the goal is to "solve the vinyl versus CD question", I catch your drift......

Some wisely chosen 2nd hand TT's can be "rented" in a sense--they've largely depreciated to their bottom price, so one can buy them now and sell 'em later for roughly the same price. I bought a Heybrook for $350 and sold it later for $275 without cartridge or mat; the missing $75 was well worth it. Other brands/models must offer a similar opportunity. Of course, buying a lemon TT is always an unfortunate possibility.