turntable decisions

what up, so im new to the forum and new to the mpc community so hello to everyone , i just ordered the mpc1000 and it should be here within the week along with some m-audio av40's...now i was in my local music shop today talking with one of the clerks about turntables and where to start, i said all i really knew was that i needed a 'direct drive and not belt driven' to which he responded 'thats all that really matters'...so i thought id expand on that a little here. my choices as it stands are currently between a stanton, im not sure the model but it was around 240$cad and then he showed me the audio technica at-lp120 which definately caught my eye and i believe it was a bit cheaper maybe 200, now i only need one to start for sampling but if i was gonna get a pair for djing/live performance, what would be the right way to go.
my apologies for the overly long, not to the point first post...noooobed it, holler at your boy

yeah **** replying to this post, another dude basically posted the same thing in less words earlier...duurrrrp!