welcome to New England!
as everyone else has said, you should get dedicated snow tires.
and yes, studded snows are allowed in Mass from November 1st to april 1st i beleive.
so if you feel safer with them, go for it.
i have used both regular snows and studded snows on my El Camino, i didnt really notice a difference. except on ice, but most of the time you will be dealing with sloppy yucky snow.
