Living with popping and crackling

I find simple cleaning, manually, cleans most LPs up well. Buying used vinyl, at $1 to $10 a piece, I clean 'em and play 'em. If there's too much surface noise for my taste, I take 'em back and trade 'em in, getting about 50% of price paid. For me this works out OK, and you'd be amazed at how many clean $1 LPs I've bought since getting back into vinyl about 1.5 years ago. I wouldn't be intimidated by anyone who suggests that you'll need to spend 2 or 3 thousand dollars for satisfactory LP playback. My rig costs far less and has been satisfying me splendidly since I got back into vinyl. Enjoy.

Dougdeacon (you must like "king of Queens") how is a record damaged by not cleaning it first?

Oy! Doug is correct, there, Mr. Todd. By playing a new, uncleaned LP you risk driving pressing release agents and other manufacturing residue into the grooves, not to mention hauling them around the grooves with your stylus.

It is all in the cleaning and the equipment. That said there are some LP's that will make noise regardless, depending on the pressing, the vinyl, and past care (or lack thereof). This goes for both new and old records. I have 50 year old records which are dead quiet and 2004 releases that crackle - at least until I take them back for a refund.

makes sense

Improper cart. loading can highlight surface noise. Check out Bob Hagerman's paper on his web site that addresses this issue. A MM cart. with too much shunt capacitance loading it will have a high freq. resonance. Ultrasonic noise pulses can excite this resonance and be shifted down to audio band where they can be heard. Similar things can happen to a MC cart. with too much resistive loading. Also, in my experience incorrect VTA can also highlight surface noise. One other point; during the oil crisis in the 1970s, many record companies upped the content of recycled vinyl in their product to save money. Recycled vinyl IS noisy and all the cleaning in the world won't cure it.