Sony LX300USB skips a lot

[foothead]

I got a Sony ps-lx300usb turntable from borders last weekend, and it sounds allright, except for one major issue, where it skips on pretty much every album I have. The turntable's tracking weight is permanently set way higher than I would like, so that is not the issue, and it has a brand new needle. The skips are totally random, and even occur on a perfect album with no scratches. This is getting very frustrating, because my technics sl-qp33, which I have balanced so the tracking weight is near zero never skips. What is going on? I cannot possibly find a reason for this.

Edit: skips are both forwards and backwards, though most go backwards.