With respect to amateurs and what strings to use, Elixir make sense. They may be expensive but will last a long time. Martin Simpson uses D'Addario and changes them at the interval or for every song when recording, but I'm not sure he has to open his wallet. Richard Thompson uses Elixir.
I'd love to try Newtone, but if they are hard to get in quantity and of questionable consistency and only by mail order, I'll accept the compromise and go with Elixir which I can get anywhere. D'Addario strings sound nice, but they don't even last me a week before they start to go.