In response to the crosley talk in here, yeah don't buy one of those, they are pure trash and destroy your records. at the very minimum, an audio technica at-lp60 isn't a terrible starter deck. it's cheap, really easy to use, and has a built in pre amp that allows you to connect directly to powered speakers. It too can do damage to your records over time, so I'd still avoid it if you can.
the U-turn Orbit is a great starter deck. Small company based in Boston that builds all of their turntables there from mostly American components. It has a counterweight that comes pre-adjusted, meaning it won't do damage to your records.
I have an Orbit Plus in white, which has some upgrades like a nicer cartridge and a clear acrylic platter. Requires a pre amp to use with powered speakers, but they make their own external one that's really good and they also offer it as a built-in option. You can cop one of these decks from Urban, Barnes and Noble, and other places now, but U-turn offers a direct custom service that allows you to choose your upgrades that's kind of cool. I got mine on the low with a coupon from B&N along with the pre-amp and have it connected to Klipsch powered speakers, sounds great.
The LP-120 is generally good if you're looking into a direct drive, but I've heard that the built in pre amp is terrible and needs to be ripped out if you want to truly bypass it, which sucks. If you're looking into a cheap deck, I'd go with the U-turn. They have amazing customer service too.