Unless you've got pristine quality records and are meticulous about cleaning your records, I suspect the Audio Technica AT-PL50 would serve you very, very well. (I've never heard the AT PL-120, but I bet it would also be very good choice).
I got one for my dad and I've heard no hum. Don't know what cogging is, but no extraneous noises stand when I listen to it.
I'd say unless you are going to spend at least $300 - $400 (entry level audiophile, say Pro-ject, Music Hall, Rega, etc), how a particular turntable is voiced is what you should be looking for.
That Technics turntable is very well respected over at
Head-Fi, but primarily as great value for the money if you are willing to do a lot of mods to extract the potential of the turntable itself. Plus, you may just end up with a frankenstein, instead of nice turntable that was voiced as intended right out of the factory.
It's not going to extract every little bit of detail from those grooves (may not emphasize clicks and pops as much also), but it's got a full bodied, perhaps slightly dark (tonal balance) sound that is above, all else, just plain musical. Plug it in, toss on a record, and just enjoy the music! It's aligned and calibrated right out of the box, so you don't have to worry about that, either (replacement cartridge, which basically clips into place, is $10 - $15 I think).
