Horseface,
Okay, here is my advice:
1. Buy a cheap (and if possible, used) vacuum Record Cleaning Machine (RCM). A Nitty Gritty (or its cousin, the Record Doctor), both work fine as a vacuum drying device. (A VPI works great too, but it is much larger and takes up more room, and can't be moved or stored as easily as a Nitty Gritty type, but they look better, more like fine furniture.) A DIY kit is also available, but I have no experience with that. (Warning, these types do tend to be fairly loud, as vacuums typically are loud.) Costs will be a couple hundred bucks if bought used, a few hundred if bought new.
2. Buy a couple of Disk Doctor, or Mobile Fidelity, (MoFi) cleaning brushes and some good cleaning fluid, (I recommend MoFi's Super Record Wash). (For used, dirty records, I use their Super Deep Cleaner, followed by the Super Record Wash.) Also buy a carbon fiber brush, as you'll use it EVERY time prior to playing records. Costs will be about $50 - 100.
3. Hand clean the record using the fluid and the brushes, and then vacuum them dry on the RCM, (one side at a time). Do this with all your records, even the new ones. This will go a long way towards getting rid of those little ticks and pops. You should only need to wet clean a record once, and from then on, you should typically only need to use the carbon fiber brush prior to playing an album side.
4. Also, buy some good plastic inner sleeves, (the MoFi sleeves work well), so that you don't EVER use paper sleeves again. (I also use outer sleeves to reduce wear and tear on the record sleeve, but that is not necessary to acheiving good sound, (merely good looks!)
5. Buy a stylus cleaner and brush, (a lot of people recommend the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, but I've never tried it myself). I use MoFi LP No. 9, and it seems to work fairly well. Use the stylus cleaner at least once prior to each listening session. (Some people clean their stylus after each side, which seems a bit overkill to me. However, different strokes, as they say. I find that since I clean all my vinyl prior to playing it, that my stylus seems to stay cleaner, longer.) Cost is about $20.
Doing all of this will help to improve the sonics of your vinyl, and hence your enjoyment level should go up. However, if you deem this just too damn much work, (and some people do, which is fine), just go back to digital and be happy, and let the rest of us be slaves to our record playing rituals! ;-)
My two cents worth, and Good Luck!
PS In going back over this email, I notice it looks like I am shilling for MoFi by my recommendations, but to be honest, it is just a coincidence that I use their products as I buy from Music Direct a lot, and they sell MoFi products. (FYI, I use, and prefer, the Disk Doctor brushes, as I find them to easier to handle, as they are slightly smaller than the MoFi brushes. But the MoFi brushes are cheaper, I believe.) As you can tell, I am a cheap bastard, and so I use the most cost efficient cleaning supplies and equipment that I can find. ;-)
