Phonograph needle recommendations

Don't see a thread for this here so I thought I'd ask:

I have a rather extensive collection of LP's of classical and jazz (1940's - 1970's) and I would like to digitize them. I have a rather inexpensive turntable to do that with. a Numark PT-01 that I can hook into my Mac and do the appropriate editing and conversion. The problem is, the sound coming into the computer from the turntable is pretty bad, and I am at least 85% sure it is the needle; the original that came with the turntable. It might be good for DJing, but it is horrible for playing classical or jazz records.

Can anyone recommend a quality needle/cartridge for this purpose? I don't know where to get one and I've never changed one before (too young to do it as a kid), so something easy to change and easy to procure would be fantastic.

Thanks. Most of this music comes from a couple of universities as they were throwing away (literally -- into the dumpster) their records. A large portion of these have never seen the light in any other format except their original release, so saving this music is very important to me.

 

Do you know what type of stylus it is Moving Magnet or Moving Coil

Magnetic cartridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

No idea. I checked out the wikipedia article link you gave me (thank for that, BTW), but I've no idea how to identify the two when looking at the player.

 

Dare I suggest investing in a better turntable AND cartridge?

 

Is a better turntable really necessary? Or can I up the quality simply by getting a better needle/cartridge?