Quote Originally Posted by minarets77 View Post
"destroy" is probably overstating it but not being able to balance the tonearm can cause groove wear over time, which is undesirable (i know you know this, I am just stating it for the peeps new to vinyl).

automatic = hope you like every song on every side!

manual - you can drop the needle with your hand (manually)
If that's the only difference, it's no big deal to me because I would mostly buy vinyls of albums I really care about start to finish.