The Technics are awesome, but I don't think you need those for what you're doing.

I bought a Numark TT1520 turntable and i'm very happy with it. Its a direct drive unit and I havn't had any problems with it since day one. I bought it for the same purpose as you, transferring records to mp3.

At the time, it cost me $170, but i've seen them on ebay for as low as $100. This isn't the same one, but very similiar (mine was silver).