I'm in the market to buy a turntable. Is there anything

get something with auto return
trust me

Buy a Technics SL-1200 - 1800 model. It's guaranteed to be good and relatively cheap, pretty much the gold standard of turntables

Ignore audio technica and anything new and automatic

>>73962970
What is auto return?

>>73963024
pretty sure it moves the needle back to the start of the record

Pro-ject makes good stuff at a reasonable price. Basically you just want something that will sound good and not fuck up your records. Features like a switch for 33.3/45 and auto return are more of a convenience.

I'm not going to get a turntable and preamp for less than the cost of that LP120 B&N seems proud to have in stock, am I? Provided I don't want to completely ruin my records, that is.

unless you're willing to spend several hundred dollars, look around local for a used technics from the 80s, you can find them for less than a hundred bucks a lot of the time, and they usually have adjustable tracking force and anti-skate, and auto-return. The stock cartridges aren't always the best, but there are still many good cartridges being made at all price ranges, so you can buy something that fits your budget.