Best Cartridge for recording vinyl to MP3

Hi Beepnklik, the Ortofon Arkiv is exactly what you are looking for, I would suggest getting the Concorde cartridge version, as you don’t have to worry about setting it up correctly in your head shell. To ensure the best quality transfers, set it up on your turntable exactly as described in the instructions. (Correct weight and tone arm height) You should also clean the records before transfering to minimise the crackle and static pops caused by dust.
I would also suggest that you record them as WAV files, using a good quality sound card so you are getting the highest quality recording, you can always compress them to MP3 later if you really need to. RME used to make a great external card called the HDSP RPM which had really good AD/DA Converters, its no longer in production, but you can probably pick one up secondhand. It is a firewire interface and is also an awesome interface for digital DJs

Hope this helps

Simple answer?
Ones with new styli.
The stylus need changing every 500 hours of use. Sooner if you scratch.
If your ripping to keep digital files, cart brands are neither here nor there, there would be little audio difference IMHO between well set up carts with new or nearly new styli.
As some one above said clean your vinyl. I had one from my box that was almost unplayable, it looked covered in scratches and the arm just skipped straight to the run out grooves.
I was cleaning my own records when someone ( a real vinyl nerd i know ) suggested forgetting all the fancy chemicals such as isopropyl alcohol, but use luke warm running tap water and washing up liquid with a new soft dishcloth working circular from run out to lead in.
Keep going until all traces of soap are gone
As an experiment i tried the unplayable 12″ and i now have that one playing very nicely, with the odd pop were the deeper scratches are, but it doesnt jump or skip