I get it as well.
I resurrected a turntable and bought a few new records. It's kinda cool to do but it's just so much easier to touch my tablet screen and have music blaring from my M60s in seconds.
I also have trouble getting past the hisses and pops in even a brand new, first play record. Admittedly, much of that may be from the cheaper cartridge and a room full of dust falling on a turntable with no cover. The record doesn't really have a chance.
You are correct about the cartridge, a good cartridge makes all the difference. I spent quite a few hours researching record cleaning and then made a home made record cleaner using my little green machine and clean all my records . For being 35 yrs old they sound damn good , but I also spent 600 on a decent cartridge. But it is time consuming and it is a passing phase that I am sure will visit me again come winter.
Just as there are good digital recording there are some really bad ones as well and the Axioms will let you know which is which:) .. But honestly if your not going to use it by all means sell it to someone who will and repurpose the money to something you will use now.
