Cartridge aging and tip wear symtoms?

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.

Sibilance, inner groove distortion, high end roll off.

Of utmost importance is keeping the stylus clean. Do a search for the "Magic Eraser" threads. There is nothing comparable to this inexpensive little gadget.

I just got a new cart. and have to go thru all the "break in" time that others claim. I had a used MC that I thought sounded pretty good, it might have been at least 20 years old but with little wear. It did not have any symptoms of old age that I could detect, tracked well and no distortion. Well I decided to put it on ebay and now perhaps almost regret it. The buyer took a long time to pay. I was almost hoping he was a non payer so I could change my mind. No matter, he came thru eventually and I shipped today. I expect to get the long life from this new MC. Well be glad you don't have a Victrola. The needles were good for exactly one play each, if the steel type! I have a Victrola and they still make the needles for the wind up acoustic things! Direct to disc, no electronic distortions. So must sound great!