Cartridge aging and tip wear symtoms?

Frequently the suspension will give up before the diamond ever starts to show wear. Doug is right, unless you have the proper stereo microscope it's almost impossible to tell how the diamond is wearing. I used to do it, and what I would typically find is dirt! Back then, most people didn't practice proper stylus cleanliness, so you ended up with a pack of crud on the end of the cantelever. Once that was cleaned up, then next thing was the impact of improper alignment / anti-skating. Many stylii would show uneven wear. But a properly aligned, properly maintanined (including clean records) cart ridge could last a couple of thousand hours. Most people replaced carts because they wanted something new long before their original cartridge wore out.

I've viewed many needles under the scope over the years. Rarely did I see one that was actually worn. I did see a few where the stylus had been sheared off of the cantilever... and a lot of dirty styli :)

As the cartridge ages, usually whether it is played or not, the cantilever suspension will perish. As this happens, the cartridge will begin to mistrack; often it will sound harsher. With most cartridges 2-3 years is about all you can hope for before the cantilever has to be refurbished.

20 plus years on the same mc FR cartridge and no sign of cantilever distress.
"with most cartridges 2-3 years is about all you can hope for before the cantilever has to be refurbished"is enough to scare a lot of people away from vinyl.
I'll wager I am not the only person with an oldie still working.
Or am I?
Any other survivor stories?

A worn out cart will start to distort on the inner groves.Its a symptom.I know i have had it happen to me.
FACT!

You can certainly get a lot of cartridges to play for years. But- they won't sound right nor will they track right. So far I don't know of anything that lasts forever, although in terms of recordings, LPs are probably the longest-lived media.