Needledropping experience?

I've been bitten by the vinyl bug recently and just got my first turntable ever. It's an Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB, kind of an entry-level model at least for starting out. I only have about 15 records so far, but enjoying the experience so far. I really like how drums sound fuller and more natural on vinyl vs digital.

The problem I have is that my wife greatly interferes with my record listening enjoyment in the house. I'm not a headphones guy, I like to sit back and be immersed in the full sound coming from my stereo system that I don't get from cans. But it never fails that she starts telling me to turn it down whenever I fire up the stereo (my system is in the living room). This is probably the main reason I mainly listen in the truck. I can play whatever I want as loud as I want.

So getting back to the purpose of my post. I'm interested in ripping vinyl to wav so I can listen in the truck. I've read articles and various forum posts about needledropping though, and it looks like a crap ton of work to get vinyl to digital. I've seen where people are using expensive sound editing software to de-click/de-pop, re-equalize, reduce the noise level, etc. to clean up the sound. Is all that really necessary to get good vinyl recordings? After all that editing, does the recording still sound like vinyl? I would probably want to remove the pops & clicks, is there a good automatic de-clicker program that does a good job? Any recommendations for hardware/software? Should I not waste my time? My turntable has a built-in phono preamp and USB.

Personally if you really want to get into ripping vinyl you should invest in getting a better turntable and cartridge combo, as an analog format the equipment is just as if not more important that the media. I would also suggest you either get a standalone pre-amp or a/an receiver/amplifier. As far as de-clicking and de-popping software goes there is plenty of solid free programs on the market though the first step would be to get a record cleaner like the spin clean and a can of gruv glide to tackle the majority of the noise.

Turntable:
U-Turn Orbit $179
or check craigslist for a some solid vintage options $50-$100

Cartridge's:
Ortofon OM 10 Super Phono Cartridge $69
Grado Black 1 $70
Sumiko Oyster Cartridge $75

preamps:
Esoteric Sounds Rek-O-Kut Professional Phono Preamp MKIII $73

I agree with everything said above including the gear. I'll also add the Technics SL1200II as a solid contender that is bulletproof.

Just get it to ones and zeros, don't remove noise. You don't remove it when listening to them live, no reason to otherwise.